The Aug. 24 suit against TNT Crane & Rigging notes that Edwin Crayton, Lorenzo Smith, Freddie Campbell and Jason Pradia had to endure a hostile workplace. The suit alleges that these workers had to contend with their supervisors’ and colleagues’ use of racially derogatory language, including the N-word.
In April 2018, Smith, a crane operator, was ordered by his manager to retrieve an air-conditioning unit from one facility while he was working in another facility. When Smith requested help from his manager, he allegedly replied, “[n-word], if you are going to b**th about it, you can turn that truck around and take your a** home.”
Another of the workers, Pradia, said a white colleague told him, “A lot of Black people are f—king lazy. You’re different, you’re not like other [n-word]. You work though; that’s what I like about you,” that colleague allegedly said.
EEOC attorney Brian Hawthorne said “TNT knowingly permitted a work environment filled with racist comments and imagery.”
“No employee should have to work in an environment openly hostile to their race, and no employee should suffer reprisal for objecting to discriminatory practices,” Hawthorne said.