WRS COMPASS SUED FOR RACE HARASSMENT; BLACK WORKERS SUBJECTED TO NOOSES AND RACIAL SLURS

Additional Discrimination and Retaliation Also Alleged by EEOC

CHICAGO – A Tampa-based environmental  clean-up company violated federal law by discriminating against and racially  harassing African American employees at its Lake Calumet work site in Chicago, including  the display of hangman’s nooses, the U.S.  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced  today.

According to the EEOC’s suit,  WRS Infrastructure and Environmental, Inc. (doing business as WRS Compass) subjected  its black workers to a racially hostile work environment, discriminatory terms  and conditions of employment, and unlawfully retaliated against an employee  when he com­plained about the discrimination.  The EEOC also charged that WRS created a hostile work environ­ment for a  white worker who associated with African American employees.

According to John Rowe, the  EEOC’s district director in Chicago,  black employees were subjected to a noose exhibited on a white co-worker’s  vehicle parked at the job site. When the  workers complained to the superintendent about the noose, he took no action,  but rather responded that “maybe the white employee liked nooses.” Rowe said the EEOC’s pre-suit administrative  investi­gation also revealed that later a hangman’s noose was also left for an  African American employee on the steering wheel of his dump truck.

Rowe added that the EEOC’s  investigation found that white workers referred to black co-workers as “n----rs”  and other racially derogatory terms. One  of the white workers who stood up for the African American workers was referred  to as a “n-----r lover” and subjected to other derogatory comments and  treatment. After one of the African American  workers complained about the harass­ment to management, he was laid off from  the job. In addition, the EEOC alleges in  its lawsuit that WRS subjected African American workers to less favorable  equipment assignments and harsher discipline at the jobsite.

All this alleged conduct violates Title VII of the  Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed  its suit, captioned EEOC v. WRS  Infrastructure and Environmental, Inc.,in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern  Division, on July 15, 2009, after first attempting to reach a voluntary  settlement through its conciliation process.  The lawsuit has been designated Civil Action No. 09 CV 4272 and assigned  to U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall and Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat  Brown. The government’s litigation effort will be led by EEOC Supervisory  Trial Attorney Gregory Gochanour and Trial Attorney Richard Mrizek.

John  Hendrickson, the EEOC’s regional attorney in Chicago said, “Because of Title  VII -- which is the law of the land -- there is no longer any place for racism  in any American workplace covered by federal law, especially the virulent and  open sort alleged here. Those days are  over. Any company that still permits the  unmistakably violent racist imagery of the hangman’s noose to be displayed in  the workplace risks serious legal consequences.”

WRS Compass restores  contaminated properties. According to  its web site (www.wrscompass.com), WRS has over 600 employees and 12 offices  nationwide, including the one in Chicago.

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment  discrimination. Further information  about the EEOC is available on the agency’s web site at www.eeoc.gov.

The EEOC Chicago District Office is responsible for processing  charges of discrimination, administrative enforcement, and the conduct of  agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota,  with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.