EEOC Sues Anthony Roofing and Tecta America Corporation for Race and Sex Harassment

CHICAGO – Anthony Roofing Tecta America LLC and Tecta America Corporation, roofing services providers in Illinois and nationwide, violated federal law when they subjected African American and female employees of their Aurora, Illinois location to race and sex harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, one of Anthony Roofing’s vice presidents racially harassed an employee, which included repeatedly calling the employee the N-word and his “slave,” among other offensive racial remarks. After the employee objected to the harassment, the company failed to address it, and the harassment continued, forcing the employee to quit to avoid further abuse. Other black employees were also subjected to harassment by both supervisors and other employees, including racial slurs, being called “boy,” and other offensive language, the EEOC charged.

The lawsuit also alleged that the same company vice president also subjected female employees to sexual harassment, including offensive comments about oral sex, derogatory comments about their bodies, and asking them inappropriate, sex-based questions in the workplace, and more.

Employees reported the race and sex harassment both to management at Anthony Roofing and to Tecta America’s human resources department, but the harassment continued, according to the EEOC’s suit.

“Employees have a right to earn a living without being subjected to race- or sex-based harassment,” said Victor Chen, an EEOC spokesman. “Federal law requires employers to investigate harassment and take immediate action to stop it. When they fail to do so, they’re not just falling short — they’re violating the law, and the EEOC will hold them fully accountable.”

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits workplace harassment based on race and sex. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Tecta America Corp. and Anthony Roofing Tecta America LLC, Case No. 1:25-cv-14252) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process in 2025.

For more information on race and color discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolor-discrimination. For more information on sexual harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment. For more information on retaliation, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

The EEOC’s Chicago District Office has jurisdiction over Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to the DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.