Feds: Exxon knew about nooses, racial discrimination at Louisiana worksite
Feds: Exxon knew about nooses, racial discrimination at Louisiana worksite
“ExxonMobil knew or should have known” that it was allowing racial harassment in the workplace, according to a new lawsuit from the federal government.
Emily Sanders is editorial lead for the Center for Climate Integrity. You can catch up with her on Twitter here.
I couldn’t leave the office for a week without a new “ExxonKnew” revelation coming out in my absence — but this time, it had nothing to do with climate change.
ExxonMobil is facing a new lawsuit from the federal government for failing to act on its knowledge of racial discrimination at its petrochemical complex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and for subjecting a Black employee who reported finding a noose at his worksite “to a hostile work environment on the basis of race.”
Five hangman’s nooses were reported at the Baton Rouge complex between 2016 and 2020, according to the complaint. Each time, Exxon either failed to take substantial action to stop future incidents from occurring — “such as training, counseling, or policy changes” — or neglected to investigate the incident at all, the agency found.
“ExxonMobil knew or should have known that the measures it had taken to prevent hangman’s nooses were ineffective and that additional measures were necessary to prevent further harassment,” reads the complaint.
The lawsuit was filed in a Louisiana federal court on March 2 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency in charge of enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace. It argues that the company’s inaction is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
Milferd McGhee, the employee who found and reported a noose at the Baton Rouge complex in January 2020, knew that nooses had been found there before, the lawsuit said. But even after looking into McGhee’s complaint, Exxon “did not complete all the measures recommended in its investigative report to remedy the harassment” by the time another noose was discovered later that year.
“A noose is a longstanding symbol of violence associated with the lynching of African Americans,” said Elizabeth Owen, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office, in a press statement accompanying the suit. “Such symbols are inherently threatening and significantly alter the workplace environment for Black Americans.”
The EEOC is now asking the court to make Exxon pay damages, provide compensation to McGhee, and enforce policies to address racial harassment at its facilities and offices, among other remedies.
This is not the first time Exxon has faced accusations of ignoring or enabling discrimination in the workplace. As documented in investigations by Bloomberg and by ExxonKnews in partnership with Atmos, company management has long fostered a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ and Black employees. Last year, Exxon banned Pride and Black Lives Matter flags from its corporate headquarters, telling workers that the decision was based on the company’s need to maintain “neutrality.” The oil giant has also been accused of silencing and retaliating against employees when they speak out.
At the Baton Rouge complex that’s the subject of this latest complaint, Exxon claims that “We have a simple goal: ‘Nobody gets hurt.’” But beyond charges of racial discrimination, the refinery and chemical plant also constitute one of Exxon’s dirtiest operations, routinely spewing toxic air pollutants into nearby predominantly Black neighborhoods. The complex accounted for more than a third of Exxon’s overall emissions in 2018, and has been the subject of numerous lawsuits against the company for safety and environmental violations.
The EEOC complaint said the agency tried to come to a pre-litigation settlement to “eliminate the unlawful employment practices and provide appropriate relief” — but they were unable to come to an agreement with the oil giant.
In response, Exxon said that the company “disagree[s] with the EEOC’s findings and allegations.”
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