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Miami Herald
06-07-2025
- Miami Herald
‘Go back to Haiti!' Florida company pays $1.4 million to end lawsuit over racism
While a Florida garbage company denies 'intentional wrongdoing,' they're shelling out $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit that alleges management allowed Black and Haitian-American workers to be hit with racist slurs and imagery from co-workers. Waste Pro of Florida is based out of Longwood, but the accusations in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit involve what did or didn't happen at Waste Pro's Jacksonville office, 2940 Strickland St. Specifically, the lawsuit in Jacksonville federal court concerns what did and didn't happen to welder Fednol Pierre after he transferred there in October 2021. The $1.4 million will go to a ground that includes Pierre, 25 co-workers named in the consent decree and any of Waste Pro's Black and/or Haitian-American Jacksonville employees 'who were subjected to a hostile work environment based on their race, color, or national origin, from February 2021 through Dec. 31, 2023.' The consent decree also requires Waste Pro to hire a racial discrimination expert as a compliance officer to investigate race discrimination complaints and claims of retaliation for such complaints in Waste Pro's Northeast region for the next 18 months and oversee those investigations throughout the company for the next three years. A statement from Waste Pro corporate communications says: 'Waste Pro has always been committed to fostering a productive and healthy work environment for its employees that is free of harassment and discrimination. This case stems from events alleged to have occurred in 2022, and while Waste Pro did not find evidence of intentional wrongdoing, a settlement was reached to avoid lengthy litigation and refocus on our commitment to our employees and the people we serve. Waste Pro has proactively enhanced our existing training for all company managers, our internal reporting mechanisms, and our company-wide communication regarding our robust anti-harassment and discrimination policy.' The consent decree says Waste Pro denies it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, officially, admits no liability. READ MORE: Miami plastic surgery company discriminated against worker with breast cancer, EEOC says 'Go back on the banana boat!' The lawsuit says Pierre, a certified welder, worked for Waste Pro in Port St. Lucie for two years and three months before transferring to Jacksonville in October 2021. Another welder, the lawsuit said, welcomed him with 'there is no need for you here,' and dropped a racial slur. This continued over the succeeding days, the EEOC suit said, from two different welders with 'Go back to Haiti, (n-word);' 'Y'all don't belong here;' 'Go back on the banana boat;' 'This is Trump country;' and other pieces of verbal racist aggression. 'The comments and slurs were ubiquitous, frequent, and occurred openly, including in the presence of...a technician, and other similarly aggrieved Black and/or Haitian-American coworkers,' the lawsuit said. Pierre and a maintenance supervisor told the maintenance manager what was happening and, eventually, an investigation commenced March 29, 2022. After the investigation, the regional human resources manager planned to hold a staff meeting to talk with maintenance workers about race discrimination. 'Before the staff meeting, [Pierre] and another Black employee discovered a stuffed monkey carrying an American flag in Mr. Pierre's work area,' said the lawsuit, although the photo in the lawsuit appears to show a gorilla. (Images and statements likening Black people to monkeys or gorillas long have been used in attempts to dehumanize Black people.) The two welders who had been spewing racist epithets at Pierre, the lawsuit said, began retaliating. They 'refused to communicate with Mr. Pierre about auto-repairs, and they often left him with the least desirable, most difficult welding tasks to complete at night,' the lawsuit said, which also claimed they 'locked the best welding equipment in their personal lockers so that [Pierre] could not access it.' Believing nothing substantive had been done, Pierre resigned May 12, 2022. The next day, the lawsuit said, the regional maintenance manager told a maintenance manager 'to incorrectly note in Mr. Pierre's termination paperwork that he was not rehireable because he had twice walked off the job.'
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge finalizes $1.4M Waste Pro racial discrimination lawsuit settlement
This story was originally published on Waste Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Waste Dive newsletter. Waste Pro will pay $1.4 million to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced this week. The suit alleges that Waste Pro failed to intervene when a Black sanitation worker and 25 other employees in Jacksonville, Florida were subjected to what the EEOC described as frequent 'horrific racial slurs and epithets' and other severe harassment due to either their race, their background as Haitian Americans, or both. Some of the employees were also denied use of necessary tools or equipment needed to do their jobs or were singled out to complete harder or less desirable tasks than other workers, the lawsuit alleges. A judge approved the consent decree on June 5, the last step needed to finalize a consent decree that was first proposed in October 2024. EEOC filed the complaint in September 2023. As part of the consent decree, Waste Pro must provide specialized training on race discrimination to supervisors and human resources employees, the decree says. It specifies that Waste Pro CEO Sean Jennings and COO Keith Banasiak must attend the first training session. Waste Pro must also appoint an independent compliance officer, who will oversee the investigation of any race discrimination complaints the company receives at any of its locations throughout Florida, the EEOC said. Waste Pro will have to establish a centralized discrimination complaint tracking system and provide the EEOC with biannual reports noting any discriminatory conduct at its locations and describing what corrective measures were taken. Further, the company will need to create a written seniority system that assigns collection trucks and routes 'on a race-neutral basis.' The suit alleged that certain managers made '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,' EEOC said in a statement. '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 in a statement. '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.' Tracy Meehan, Waste Pro's corporate communications director, said in an emailed statement that the company has 'always been committed to fostering a productive and healthy work environment for its employees that is free of harassment and discrimination' and has already implemented changes to its manager training program and its communications to employees about company anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies. 'This case stems from events alleged to have occurred in 2022, and while Waste Pro did not find evidence of intentional wrongdoing, a settlement was reached to avoid lengthy litigation and refocus on our commitment to our employees and the people we serve,' Meehan said. The EEOC complaint originally centered on an employee who reported harassment at a Waste Pro location in Jacksonville, saying he and another employee were regularly told to 'go back to Haiti' and endured other harassment on a regular basis. At one point, the worker said someone left a stuffed monkey on his desk as a reference to a racial epithet, the EEOC said. The suit alleges that the employee reported the harassment several times, but supervisors took no corrective action on the complaints until several months later, when HR called a meeting. After that meeting, according to the lawsuit, workers retaliated against that employee by hiding or locking away his equipment and leaving him the most difficult assignments. The case grew to include dozens of other workers who the EEOC said were harmed by similar ongoing racial discrimination. '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,' EEOC trial attorney Austin Case said in a statement. The original employee's decision to file the charge also helped his other coworkers 'receive some measure of justice for the discrimination they endured,' he said. Recommended Reading GFL, Waste Pro to pay millions for settlements of EEOC race and sex discrimination lawsuits Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
