The company that manages a Greenville apartment complex will pay $40,000 to settle a racial harassment and retaliation lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced this week.

EEOC filed the federal lawsuit against DHD Ventures Management Company after two ex-employees at Grandeagle Apartments in Greenville alleged they were fired in retaliation for complaining about racial harassment. Charles Lesine and Marlin Ware alleged a white co-worker repeatedly made “unwelcome derogatory racial comments and slurs,” including repeated use of the “N-word.” EEOC said. Lesine and Ware made multiple complaints to the co-worker and management about the harassment but the racial epithets continued, EEOC said.

They were fired in November 2011, EEOC said.

“Companies must ensure they do not allow racial slurs to be used in the workplace, and that they take prompt and effective action in response to complaints of such misconduct,” said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for EEOC’s Charlotte District Office. “Employers must also remember that retaliation against people who complain about illegal employment discrimination is itself against the law. EEOC will vigorously enforce these laws.”

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from allowing a racially hostile work environment to exist in the workplace, and also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who oppose such discriminatory conduct, EEOC said.

DHD Ventures, a real estate management company based in New York, also entered into a three-year consent decree requiring the company to adopt, implement, and post an anti-discrimination policy and provide annual anti-discrimination training at its facilities in the Carolinas. The company must also provide EEOC with semi-annual reports of written and verbal complaints of unwelcome racial conduct made by employees, EEOC said.

Read the full article at the source link below.