Houston company to pay $250,000 for racial discrimination lawsuit
Oklahoma-based testing and inspection services company American Piping Inspection, Inc. will pay a former employee $250,000 after the black man claimed he was racially discriminated against. The lawsuit was announced last week by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Court records show the former employee, whose identity was withheld, is a black radiographer who worked at the company’s Midland, Texas, location. The lawsuit revealed that the disparaging comments began as soon as the man started working for the business in 2017. In 2018, he was fired. Plaintiff believes his position was terminated because he spoke up for himself and reported his boss’s behavior to the highest levels of the company’s vice president. In one case, the black male’s white supervisor “used the ‘N-word’ to refer to the radiographer and other minority employees,” as reported by the EEOC. The supervisor also allegedly asked her, “What’s the best way to look at a black man?” before answering, “At the end of a goal.” According to the documents, during this conversation, the white man gestured to her “as if aiming a firearm.”
On another occasion, the same supervisor “made highly offensive racist ‘jokes’ in the presence of the radiographer and other employees.” The suit alleges that the plaintiff brought his concerns to upper management, but nothing was done to remedy the situation at continued. The former employee said that after bringing his supervisor’s behavior to the attention of American Piping Inspection, Inc., he began facing harsher punishments than non-black co-workers who would make the same mistakes. He was eventually fired. from work.
Included in the $250,000 settlement is a three-year consent decree that has already been upheld by a federal court requiring the business to review its anti-discrimination policies. The company must also distribute those updated instructions to anyone offered employment with American Piping Inspection, Inc. Rudy Sustaita, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Houston district office, issued a statement about the lawsuit: “This case is a stark reminder that unlawful racial discrimination and retaliation continue to permeate our workplaces. Other employers must consider and revise their practices and policies to ensure compliance with federal law. Otherwise, the EEOC will enforce the law against violators and seek compensation for injured employees.”
