Waste Pro of Florida to Pay $1.4 Million in EEOC Race Discrimination Lawsuit

MIAMI – Waste Pro of Florida agreed to pay $1.4 million and furnish comprehensive injunctive relief to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Waste Pro subjected 26 black and/or Haitian American workers to frequent, severe harassment because of their race and national origin. Black sanitation workers in Jacksonville were often called by horrific racial slurs and epithets, including the “n-word,” “boy” and “monkey” and told to “go back to Haiti on the banana boat.”

The suit charged Waste Pro managers with making an already difficult job – picking up Jacksonville residents’ trash and recycling –  intolerable by assigning black employees to worse routes and trucks while forcing them to endure severe racial harassment.

The racial harassment reached an apex when, during an anti-discrimination training, management refused to remove a stuffed monkey carrying an American flag that had been placed in an employee’s work area. The worker, who pleaded with management to remove the monkey before the training, previously complained about co-workers who told him to “Go back to Haiti,” and called him a “monkey” among other racial epithets, the EEOC said.

Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed its suit (EEOC v. Waste Pro of Florida, Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-01132-WWB-MCR) in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

The three-year decree resolving the EEOC’s lawsuit requires Waste Pro of Florida to pay $1.4 million in monetary relief and provide specialized training on race discrimination to its CEO and human resources employees to ensure they are aware of their obligations to prevent workplace discrimination and how to address complaints. The decree also requires Waste Pro to appoint an outside compliance officer to oversee the investigation of any race discrimination complaints Waste Pro receives at any of its locations throughout Florida, and provide the EEOC with bi-annual reports alerting the federal agency to the discriminatory conduct, and what corrective measures were taken.

Additionally, the decree requires Waste Pro to conduct exit interviews and to draft a written seniority system for the assignment of trucks and routes on a race-neutral basis, as well as the establishment of a centralized statewide discrimination complaint tracking system.

“This case underscores the urgent need for the EEOC’s ongoing efforts to eliminate racism in the waste management industry,” said EEOC Miami Regional Attorney Kristen M. Foslid. “The EEOC will continue to use all its tools — including vigorous enforcement and litigation where necessary — to confront employers who tolerate race discrimination in their workplaces and hold them accountable.”

Evangeline Hawthorne, director of the EEOC’s Miami District, said, “We hope this consent decree will send a message that the EEOC will fully investigate employers accused of discriminating against Haitian American and Black employees – and bring legal proceedings against those employers when necessary.”

EEOC Trial Attorney Austin Case said, “This case began when one worker bravely spoke out against race discrimination and filed a charge with the EEOC. Because of his actions, the company was forced to undergo significant change and 26 of his coworkers will receive some measure of justice for the discrimination they endured.”

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

The EEOC’s Miami District Office is comprised of the Miami, Tampa and San Juan offices, and has jurisdiction over Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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.