by Patricia A. Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
EEOC reached a $450,000 settlement with Professional Transit Management (doing business as Springs Transit) in a lawsuit alleging the company maintained a work environment hostile to Hispanics, Asians, and African-Americans. The lawsuit alleged company supervisors used ethnic slurs and made threats of violence against minorities. The EEOC said that one worker commented it should not be against the law to shoot Mexicans, blacks or “Chinese people.” There were other threats of violence against minorities, including references to “shooting” them and “gassing” them or “killing” them. The agency said supervisors did nothing to stop the comments.
The consent decree also requires Springs Transit to implement an equal employment opportunity training program for non-supervisory employees, supervisory employees, and human resource employees that will ensure the entire work force receives the required training.