The U.S. government filed a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil after investigating a Black employee’s complaint that five nooses had been found at a Baton Rouge, La., refinery complex.
The racial discrimination suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, accuses Exxon Mobil of failing to take corrective measures after they were displayed, which created a racially hostile work environment.
The employee, Milferd McGhee, filed the suit along with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
An Exxon Mobil spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The company released a statement to multiple media outlets saying Exxon Mobil disagrees with the EEOC's allegations and encourages employees to report instances of workplace harassment so they can be investigated.
The five nooses were found at the complex between April 2016 and December 2020. The company investigated some, but not all, of the incidents and failed to take measures to remedy and end the harassment, the EEOC said in the lawsuit.
An employee found the first noose hanging from a scaffold in April 2016. Exxon Mobil investigated the incident and banned two contractors from the site, but the company did not take other remedial measures — such as training, counseling or policy changes — to prevent further harassment, the lawsuit says.
A contractor found a second noose in March 2019. A supervisor notified Exxon Mobil’s safety department, but the company did not conduct a contemporaneous investigation or notify human resources, according to the lawsuit.
An employee found a third noose in August 2019. Exxon Mobil investigated but could not identify a perpetrator, the lawsuit says.
McGhee found the fourth noose at his worksite in January 2020 and reported it. At the time, the company was aware of the three prior instances where nooses had been displayed at the complex, the lawsuit says. Exxon Mobil investigated but was again unable to identify a perpetrator.
Exxon Mobil recommended measures to remedy harassment at the complex, but it did not complete those measures before a fifth noose was found at the complex in December 2020, the lawsuit says.
"A noose is a longstanding symbol of violence associated with the lynching of African Americans," Elizabeth Owen, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office, said in a statement. "Such symbols are inherently threatening and significantly alter the workplace environment for Black Americans.”
Exxon Mobil’s failure to take action to prevent the harassment created a racially hostile work environment, the EEOC said in the lawsuit.
“When employers become aware of racially offensive or threatening conduct in the workplace, they have a legal obligation to take prompt, remedial action aimed at stopping it,” Rudy Sustaita, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Houston District Office, said in a statement.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit after first trying to reach a settlement through its conciliation process, the news release says.
evan.macdonald@houstonchronicle.com
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2023-03-06 17:33:59Z
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