Asphalt Paving Systems Settles Race Bias Charge for $1.25 Million
A paving crew in New Jersey does work similar to that performed by Asphalt Paving Systems, which settled a racial bias charge brought against it by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.
Photo: Richard Korman for ENR
Asphalt Paving Systems Inc. reached a settlement of race bias charges brought against it by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Black employees who claim they were subjected to deliberately humiliating treatment and racial epithets.
Under the consent decree agreed to by the company and agency, the contractor will pay a $1.25 million penalty and provide specialized training on race discrimination to its human resources officers and managers, appoint an outside monitor to review complaints of race-based harassment and provide EEOC with reports of harassment complaints.
In an October civil complaint filed in federal court in Florida, the agency claimed that 12 Black employees of the Tampa-area unit of the Hammonton, N.J.,-based company were subject to a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the federal civil rights law.
According to the complaint, a Black paving crew working alongside or in close proximity to white crews was, among other abuses, showered with frequent racial slurs by supervisors and other employees, exposed to a Confederate flag and given worse work assignments with longer commutes than other crew members.
The complaint also alleges that the company prevented members of the Black paving crew from finding other employment by contacting a future employer and requesting that it not hire them.
EEOC has targeted construction industry employers as chronic violators of laws that protect employees from racial and sexual harassment and discrimination. The day before announcing its settlement with Asphalt Paving Systems, the agency announced a similar consent decree with specialty contractor J.A. Croson and and payment of a $1.6 million fine. Charges against other construction employers have been settled or are pending.
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