TNT Crane & Rigging to Pay $525,000 in EEOC Racial Harassment and Retaliation Suit

FORT WORTH, Texas – TNT Crane & Rigging, Inc., one of the largest crane service providers in North America, will pay $525,000 and furnish other relief to settle a racial harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, four black employees of TNT Crane were subjected to a hostile work environment by their co-workers and supervisors, including frequent use of racial slurs, open display of nooses and other white supremacist symbols. Despite their complaints, the company failed to take action to stop the harassment. The EEOC also charged that a white employee who witnessed the racial harassment also reported it to company managers and to human resources, but the company failed to act diligently to correct the harassment. Instead, TNT Crane reduced the white employee’s work hours in retaliation for his complaints and failed to stop mistreatment from his white coworkers, which forced him to quit his job, according to the EEOC’s suit.

“It has been more 60 years since the passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yet racial harassment, such as the use of racial epithets and the display of white supremacist symbols, continues to be a recurring problem in the American workplace,” said Brian Hawthorne, EEOC trial attorney. “Employers must act forcefully to protect their workers from such behavior, both to comply with Title VII and to ensure every employee is treated with dignity and respect.”

TNT Crane’s alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from causing or permitting racial harassment of their employees and from retaliating against employees because they report workplace conduct that they reasonably believe to be unlawful harassment or discrimination, or otherwise take appropriate actions to oppose such conduct.

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. TNT Crane & Rigging, Inc., Civil Action No. 4:23-cv-00881-P) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

The EEOC and TNT Crane subsequently agreed to settle the case before trial or any findings concerning EEOC’s claims, and on July 31, the federal court approved the agreed-upon three-year consent decree resolving the litigation.

In addition to paying $525,000 to the five workers, the decree prohibits TNT Crane from engaging in racial discrimination, including creating or tolerating a racially hostile work environment. It also requires TNT Crane to adopt and implement a written anti-harassment and discrimination policy, retaliation prevention procedures, and complaint procedures; provide non-discrimination training to employees; provide training on conducting harassment and discrimination investigations to employees who are assigned that function; and report all future employee complaints of racial harassment, race discrimination or related retaliation to the EEOC.

EEOC Dallas District Director Travis Nicholson said, “Under federal law, employers must exercise reasonable care to prevent and promptly stop any racially harassing behavior in the workplace. Corrective measures taken in response to racial harassment, such as disciplinary actions and remedial training, must be calculated to deter any further harassment and must be tailored to the specific circumstances and conduct at issue.”

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

The EEOC held a hearing on discrimination and harassment in the construction industry on May 17, 2022.

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 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.