Florida garbage companies have denied “intentional misconduct,” but are firing $1.4 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that management allowed black and Haitian-American workers to be attacked by racist slander and imagery from their colleagues.
Although Waste Pro in Florida is based in Longwood, the charges in the Employment Opportunity Committee’s Equality Committee lawsuit include what happened and not at Waste Pro’s Jacksonville Office, 2940 Strickland St.
The $1.4 million will go to a group that includes Pierre, 25 colleagues named in the consent order, and Black and/or Haitian-American Jacksonville employees of Waste Pro.
The consent ruling also requires Waste Pro to investigate retaliation claims for such complaints in the Northeast region of Waste Pro for the next 18 months and hire a racism expert as compliance officers to oversee investigations over the next three years.
A statement from Waste Pro Corporate Communications said:
“Wase Pro has always been committed to promoting a productive, healthy work environment for employees who are free of harassment and discrimination. This incident stems from an incident that allegedly occurred in 2022, and Waste Pro found no evidence of intentional misconduct, but reached a settlement to avoid commitment to employees and our servants.
Waste Pro has actively strengthened its existing training for all corporate managers, internal reporting mechanisms, and company-wide communications on our robust harassment and discrimination policies. ”
The consent ruling denied that Waste Pro violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and stated it did not officially accept liability.
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“Back to the banana boat!”
According to the lawsuit, Pierre, a certified welding machine, worked for two years and three months at Waste Pro in Port St. Lucie before moving to Jacksonville in October 2021. Another welder welcomed him, “We don’t need it here,” and dropped the racial slur.
This continued on the days following the EEOC suits from two different welders with “n-word” “return to Haiti.” “Yeah, it doesn’t belong here.” “I’m back to the banana boat.” “This is Trump’s country.” And other parts of the verbal racist attack.
“Comments and slurs have been ubiquitous and frequent, and have emerged openly, including the presence of engineers and other similarly suffering Black and Haitian American colleagues,” the lawsuit states.
Pierre and the maintenance supervisor told the maintenance manager what was going on, and the investigation finally began on March 29, 2022. After the investigation, local HR managers planned to hold a staff meeting to talk to maintenance workers about racism.
“Before the staff meeting, (Pierre) and another black employee discovered a stuffed animal monkey holding an American flag in Pierre’s work area,” the lawsuit said, but the pictures in the lawsuit appear to show a gorilla.
(Images and statements have been used to dismantle blacks and long-gorillas into monkeys, and to dismantle blacks into apes.)
Two welders who had spewed racist admiration at Pierre began retaliation, according to the lawsuit.
They “refused to communicate with Mr. Pierre about car repairs and often left him with the most difficult welding tasks that were undesirable to be completed at night,” the lawsuit said.
Believing nothing substantial was done, Pierre resigned on May 12, 2022.
The next day, the lawsuit told the maintenance manager “incorrectly notes on Pierre’s firing documents that he has not relocated because he has walked twice.”
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