The Paris News
EEOC cites local company
By Mary Madewell
Published April 9, 2010
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Dallas District has cited Turner Industries Group for civil rights violations and has ordered a formal dispute resolution process.
The commission’s action, confirmed in a March 31 letter to Turner and to attorneys representing eight of the firm’s Paris employees, comes as a result of charges filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Attorney James Vagnini of New York said at a March 12, 2009, press conference that he had filed a class charge on behalf of Dontrail Mathis and Karl Mitchell and their coworkers. Named as charging parties in addition to Mathis and Mitchell are John Ellis, Ricky Fore Jr., Chris Hall, Stanrod Johnson, Nina Taylor and John Wilson III.
Turner Industries Group, in a statement released early today, denies the allegations.
“We are disappointed that the EEOC has issued this determination and strongly disagree with the EEOC’s findings,” the release states. “We welcome the opportunity to meet with the EEOC and are confident that meeting will demonstrate the Turner’s Paris, Texas facility is free from any form of discrimination, retaliation, or any other workplace conduct that violates the law.
“Our Paris, Texas facility is not, nor has it ever contained a hostile work environment,” the release states.
Michael Fetzer, director for the Dallas Equal Employment Opportunity Office, stated in the determination letter: “There is reasonable cause to believe that the respondent (Turner) discriminated against the charging parties and a class of similarly situated black employees … by subjecting them to a hostile work environment and disparate treatment.”
The determination letter also states there is “reasonable cause” to believe
Turner retaliated against some of the employees “because of their complaints about discrimination and opposition to practices believed to be unlawful and because of their participation in EEOC’s investigation.”
The letter also cited “reasonable cause” that Turner retaliated against “some other white employees because of their opposition to practices believed to be unlawful or because of their participation in EEOC’s investigation.”
But Turner said it has “extensively investigated the charges, and has determined that no worker nor class of workers was discriminated against based upon their race, or any other legally protected status.
“Furthermore, Turner management has determined that no worker nor class of workers was retaliated against for making complaints, for participating in investigations, or for any other reasons,” the release states.
During the EEOC investigation, the determination letter stated witnesses were interviewed and documents were reviewed.
“I have considered all the evidence disclosed during the investigation and find that there is reasonable cause to believe that Title VII violations occurred. Specifically, the evidence shows that on a regular basis the charging parties and a class of similarly situated black employees were subjected to unwelcome racial slurs, comments and intimidation, racial graffiti, nooses in the workplace and other symbols of discrimination,” Fetzer stated.
The EEOC director also stated some employees made complaints to the corporate office through a Hotline but the company failed to take effective remedial action. Fetzer said evidence indicates one of the employees, Fore, was terminated “after he repeatedly refused to make a statement against one of the charging parties.”
The determination letter further states that some employees were subjected to disparate treatment and because of their race “they were subjected to different terms and conditions of their employment than White employees, including but not limited to disparate job assignments, application of workplace rules and denial of promotional opportunities and other avenues of advancement.”
Turner denies all allegations.
“Turner Industries has a long-standing zero tolerance policy for any behavior in the workplace that disparages any employee,” the organization said. “We remain committed to maintaining a professional atmosphere that reinforces the company’s commitment to equality, fairness and tolerance.”
Copyright © 2010 The Paris News
13 workers file discrimination lawsuit against Dallas water department
By RUDOLPH BUSH / The Dallas Morning News [email protected]
Published 17 December 2009 11:56 AM
Published 17 December 2009 11:56 AM
Thirteen Dallas Water Utilities employees filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against City Hall on Wednesday, alleging a pattern of racial discrimination and retaliation dating back years.
The suit paints a picture of the city’s water department as a racially divided institution where discrimination is a normal practice.
Lead plaintiff Leroy White, a black electrician, said he has been subjected to racial slurs and drawings denigrating blacks as he was passed over for promotions for less qualified white employees.
White and the other plaintiffs said they have long been subjected to more work and higher scrutiny than white employees.
“It’s common practice. It’s just the way things are done in the water department,” White said.
In a statement, a city spokesman responded that City Hall has not acted unlawfully or tolerated discrimination.
“The city has not had an opportunity to review all of the allegations. However, many of the allegations concern specific incidents that are several years old, about which the city took corrective measures regarding these situations at the time the allegations were first reported,” the statement said.
The allegations portray a department where workers are segregated by race and where some white employees resort to threats, bribery and deceit to discredit complaints and keep the plaintiffs from being promoted.
Jay Ellwanger, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he and his clients met with Mayor Tom Leppert and City Manager Mary Suhm earlier this year.
Despite that meeting, nothing was done about his clients’ complaints, he said.
The plaintiffs include 11 blacks, one Hispanic and one Asian.
They are seeking unspecified monetary damages and a correction to the alleged discrimination in Water Utilities, Ellwanger said.
In addition to White, the plaintiffs include Terrence Marshall, Arturo Garza, Clement Bernard, Faye Jackson, James Yellowfish, Jewell Taylor, Kevin Gillum, Kevin McArthur, Marcus Greer, Micheal Roberts, Roderick Tolor and Thai Nguyen.
The suit paints a picture of the city’s water department as a racially divided institution where discrimination is a normal practice.
Lead plaintiff Leroy White, a black electrician, said he has been subjected to racial slurs and drawings denigrating blacks as he was passed over for promotions for less qualified white employees.
White and the other plaintiffs said they have long been subjected to more work and higher scrutiny than white employees.
“It’s common practice. It’s just the way things are done in the water department,” White said.
In a statement, a city spokesman responded that City Hall has not acted unlawfully or tolerated discrimination.
“The city has not had an opportunity to review all of the allegations. However, many of the allegations concern specific incidents that are several years old, about which the city took corrective measures regarding these situations at the time the allegations were first reported,” the statement said.
The allegations portray a department where workers are segregated by race and where some white employees resort to threats, bribery and deceit to discredit complaints and keep the plaintiffs from being promoted.
Jay Ellwanger, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he and his clients met with Mayor Tom Leppert and City Manager Mary Suhm earlier this year.
Despite that meeting, nothing was done about his clients’ complaints, he said.
The plaintiffs include 11 blacks, one Hispanic and one Asian.
They are seeking unspecified monetary damages and a correction to the alleged discrimination in Water Utilities, Ellwanger said.
In addition to White, the plaintiffs include Terrence Marshall, Arturo Garza, Clement Bernard, Faye Jackson, James Yellowfish, Jewell Taylor, Kevin Gillum, Kevin McArthur, Marcus Greer, Micheal Roberts, Roderick Tolor and Thai Nguyen.
Contractor at Airports Settles Suit in Bias Case
By ERIC O’KEEFE
Published: March 12, 2008
DALLAS — Allied Aviation Services, which fuels planes at airports nationwide, agreed on Tuesday to pay $1.9 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit begun by 15 black and Hispanic employees at its Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport facility who said they had been forced to endure racial slurs and other harassment.
The company, which did not acknowledge any wrongdoing, also agreed to conduct sensitivity and diversity training for all of its employees in the United States for the next three years. The settlement was announced at a news conference outside the Dallas district office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had filed a suit on behalf of the workers.
The settlement is the largest race and national origin discrimination case ever resolved by the Dallas office, Suzanne M. Anderson, the agency’s supervisory trial lawyer, said.
“What made this case so repulsive was not just the egregious conduct against blacks and Hispanics by their co-workers but also management’s acquiescence to the harassment,” she said in a prepared statement.
The company could not be reached for comment at its headquarters in New York. An operator at its facility at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport said, “I’ve been instructed that there is no comment from this station.”
A former Dallas Cowboys running back, Eric Mitchel, began the lawsuit after finding his name and the names of four other black employees on a bathroom wall underneath the title “hit list,” which included a racial epithet.
He said at the news conference that he had reported the threat to the airport police but had been told by Allied management “if I didn’t like what was going on, I could leave.” It was one of many incidents that Mr. Mitchel said had caused him to compare the work environment at Allied to that of a modern-day plantation.
Other Allied employees cited a pattern of discrimination and civil rights violations. Ku Klux Klan membership cards were routinely brandished by white employees, and nooses and drawings of swastikas were commonplace, according to their suit. When boarding shuttles, Hispanics were told to ride in the back of the bus, it said.
Carl Gaines, a black employee, discovered racial slurs and other derogatory remarks on the fuel panel of an American Airlines jet he was servicing, the suit said. To his surprise, he realized that the epithets singled him out by name.
Francisco Ochoa, a Hispanic employee, went into a meeting with a supervisor to discuss the conditions, only to find himself depicted in a racially offensive cartoon on display under glass on the manager’s desk, according to the suit. The mental anguish so traumatized Mr. Ochoa, a former marine, that he was later hospitalized for two weeks, said Sara W. Kane, a lawyer who worked on the case. Mr. Ochoa died of cancer two years ago.
Legal work on the case began four years ago after Mr. Mitchel found the response from Allied management unacceptable. After seeking legal counsel from a lawyer, James A. Vagnini, he was joined by seven other employees as parties to the lawsuit. That number eventually grew to 15. Six still work for the company.
“This is certainly one of the most, if not the most egregious case we’ve ever seen,” said Ms. Kane, a partner with Mr. Vagnini at Valli Kane & Vagnini in Garden City, N.Y., which represented the employees along with DiNovo Price Ellwanger in Austin, Tex. “The level and the depth that management was involved sets it apart from all other cases.”
Ms. Kane added that once the commission had completed its investigation into the case, it brought its own lawsuit against Allied on behalf of the employees. “That almost never happens,” she said.
Allied Aviation Services fuels 1.8 million commercial flights and handles close to six billion gallons of jet fuel each year, according to its Web site. It has operations at 24 major airports in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America, including the New York area’s three main airports.