The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing the Wisconsin firm Lakeside Plastics Inc., alleging that the company violated civil rights laws by subjecting an employee to a racially hostile work environment.
The EEOC said in a Sept. 30 news release that the Oshkosh, Wis.-based company fired a Black employee who was working as a production technician, after he complained about racial harassment.
"The Black employee was harassed by a white coworker who subjected him to race-based derogatory comments and slurs including 'n----r' and threatened him with physical harm," EEOC said. "The white coworker also threatened that he could get the Black employee fired."
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Green Bay, the agency said the employee who brought the complaint was threatened with physical violence and it called the conduct "severe or pervasive."
"The Black employee opposed the racial harassment by bringing it to the attention of his supervisors and was fired in retaliation for his opposition," the EEOC said. "Lakeside Plastics terminated the Black employee because of his race when it treated a white employee more favorably for similar conduct."
Lakeside Plastics, which makes plastisol compounds, printing inks and plastic safety products like traffic cones, barrels and pedestrian crossing signs, did not respond to a request for comment.
The EEOC said it is seeking lost wages, benefits and punitive damages for the employee, as well as a court order directing the company to enact nondiscriminatory policies.
The agency said the employee worked at Lakeside in June and July 2019. It said the company did not investigate his complaint and instead fired him, while it investigated a related complaint from a white employee.
"When one worker threatens another with violence and calls him the n-word, that clearly creates a hostile working environment," said Julianne Bowman, district director of the EEOC in Chicago. "The working environment is made even worse when management is made aware of the problem but takes no action."
