6 days ago
‘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.
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'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.'
