The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., a construction company based in Baltimore, will pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit over racial harassment and retaliation claims at a worksite in Tennessee.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought a class-action lawsuit in September 2021, claiming Whiting-Turner violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by:

• Segregating Black employees by assigning them to all-Black crews that worked under white supervisors.
• Requiring Black employees to perform more physically demanding and less-desirable work assignments than those assigned to white employees.
• Retaliating against two Black workers for reporting discrimination during a team meeting.
• Allowing a racially hostile work environment to persist.
• Not allowing qualified Black employees to work in supervisory positions.
• Failing to provide employees with an anti-discrimination policy and instruct them on how to register discrimination complaints.
  

The EEOC said white crew leaders used racially derogatory language when speaking to Black employees, and the worksite's portable toilets were covered in racist graffiti and epithets. A noose was allegedly displayed in the workplace on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. The EEOC said the company failed to investigate discrimination complaints and fired two Black workers after they raised concerns about discrimination.

Tim Regan, CEO of Whiting-Turner, said, "We are pleased to resolve this matter with the EEOC...

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