STANLEY FURNITURE TO PAY $80,000 FOR SUBJECTING BLACK WORKERS TO RACIAL SLURS

EEOC Settles Suit Charging Company With Creating Racially Hostile Workplace

SALISBURY, N.C. – The owners of a Lexington, N.C.,  furniture store will pay $80,000 and furnish significant injunctive relief to  settle a race harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Oppor­tunity  Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The  EEOC had brought the suit against Stanleytown, Va.-based Stanley Furniture  Company, Inc. on behalf of black production workers Johnny Wright, Darlene  Dickerson and Elease Griffin, who were subjected to a racially hostile work  environment at the Lexington  store (which is no longer operational). According  to the EEOC, at various times between 2004 and August 2006, the three were  subjected to racial harassment in the form of racial slurs directed at  them. The racial slurs included references  to African Americans as “monkeys,” statements that blacks should “go back and see [their] ancestors in the jungle,” and name-calling,  including the use of the “N-word.” The  EEOC said that Stanley Furniture was aware of the racial harassment and took no  action to stop or prevent it.

Racial  harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to  reach a voluntary settlement.

In  addition to $80,000 in monetary damages to be split among the harassment  victims, the consent decree resolving the case (EEOC v. Stanley Furniture Company, Inc., Case No. 1:08CV00695),  filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Salisbury  Division. includes injunctive relief enjoining the company from discriminating  on the basis of race, or any other protected category, or engaging in retaliation  within the meaning of Title VII. The  decree also requires the redistribution of its anti-discrimination policy,  anti-discrimination training and reports to the EEOC.

“Although  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race discrimination, was  passed 45 years ago, racial harassment and other forms of race discrimination  continue to exist in our nation’s workplaces,” said Lynette A. Barnes, regional  attorney for the federal agency’s Charlotte  District office. “As part of this agency’s mission, the  Charlotte District Office of the EEOC will continue to take all steps necessary  to eliminate this type of unlawful conduct.” 

The  EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available  at its website at www.eeoc.gov.