As reported previously here on the Blawg, last year was a record for race harassment cases.  Unfortunately, that trend shows no signs of abating.

In the latest case, Conectiv Energy and three of its subcontractors agreed to pay $1.65 million to settle discrimination claims brought by four African-American employees who alleged they were subjected to egregious racial harassment, including racial slurs, KKK graffiti and nooses hanging in the workplace.

According to the EEOC, the harassment included:

• a life-size noose that hung from a beam in the workplace for more than ten days;
• repeated use of the “N-word” and other racially offensive comments; and
• racist graffiti in work areas, including statements professing hatred for African-Americans and love for the KKK.

In addition to the payments, the companies agreed to four-year consent decrees that enjoin them from engaging in racial harassment and retaliation and that require comprehensive anti-discrimination training, the posting of notices describing the settlement and reporting future complaints of harassment to the EEOC for monitoring.

The lesson?  In the words of EEOC District Director Marie Tomasso:  “Employers risk intervention by the EEOC when supervisors ignore racially offensive working conditions and fail to take prompt and effective remedial action to stop it.”

What should employers do?

Enforce EEO Policies and Investigate Claims.  As this and other disturbingly similar cases we’ve discussed illustrate, failing to adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies can have drastic consequences.  Investigate all claims of discrimination fairly and thoroughly and take appropriate disciplinary action promptly and consistently.

Embrace Diversity.  As discussed in one of our Questions of the Week, diversity training alone does virtually nothing to improve workforce diversity.  Experts recommend a variety of mechanisms to supplement diversity training, including:  (1) accountability at the top; (2) mentorships; (3) creating a diversity point person or task force; and (4) recruiting from a wide variety of sources (e.g., minority colleges).  Diversity is far more than a feel-good program.  It’s an absolute business necessity.  Companies that start taking steps to build a diverse workforce will be ahead of the pack as the talent crunch continues to intensify.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 7:24 am and is filed under Employment Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.