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A steel company in Arizona is paying $500,000 to current and former workers to settle a lawsuit alleging that one of its managers used racial slurs and declared "white power" in front of Black and Latino employees.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a lawsuit first filed in September 2022 that the manager at Schuff Steel Company's plant in Eloy, Arizona, "repeatedly" used racial slurs, epithets, and "offensive racial nicknames" against Black and Latino employees.
This included using the N-word and offensively referring to Latino employees "beaners," the EEOC alleged in the lawsuit. He also "frequently and publicly" referred to a Black employee as "KFC" and said that other Black workers were monkeys, according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC alleged that the plant manager shouted "white power" and raised his fist in front of Black and Latino employees multiple times. He also told one employee that if he owned the company, he would only hire white people, per the lawsuit.
The manager verbally harassed workers if they spoke Spanish at work or spoke English poorly, and even threatened to fire one, the EEOC claimed.
Some workers quit because of the harassment, while employees who complained about the plant manager's behavior were fired or moved to the night shift as retaliation, the EEOC alleged.
The lawsuit accused Schuff Steel of four counts of creating a race-based and national-origin-based hostile work environment, constructive discharge, and retaliation.
Under a consent decree, filed on December 19, that settles the lawsuit, Schuff Steel will pay $500,000 to affected employees. The company will also provide anti-discrimination training to staff, have an external review of its equal employment opportunity policies, and provide a hotline where staff can report discrimination and harassment.
Business Insider has contacted Schuff Steel's attorneys for comment.
Schuff Steel told The Arizona Republic that it took any claims of wrongdoing seriously and had thoroughly investigated the claims cited by the EEOC.
"The company did not find evidence supporting the original complaint, let alone a pattern of discrimination," Schuff Steel said. "Without admission of any wrongdoing, including any violation of any federal, state or local law, Schuff Steel agreed to settle the lawsuit and reaffirm its commitment to providing a discrimination-free workplace."
