NEW ORLEANS -- Three men are suing a drilling company for racial discrimination.
Cornelius Towner, Peter Lofton and Gordon Owens, Jr., filed a complaint on June 30 in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana against Enterprise Offshore Drilling, LLC for racial discrimination.
According to the complaint, Enterprise’s supervisory/managerial level employees were aware of, condoned and participated in racially discriminatory conduct that occurred in the presence of Plaintiffs and, in addition, was frequently directed toward the Plaintiffs.
Supervisors and managers would use terms like the "N" word in the presence of the Plaintiffs, the suit says. The plaintiffs also allege that they were called upon to attend an Enterprise-arranged meeting at which a movie that was blatantly demeaning and derogatory towards African-Americans.
"A 'hangman’s' noose, a symbol of racial hatred, was placed on one of the Plaintiff’s locker door, by an Enterprise employee," the suit says.
The plaintiffs allege that co-workers also devised schemes to falsely cast them as workers who violated company safety rules and failed to perform assignments, in order to attempt to affect job performance/status and prevent them from being promoted.
Plaintiffs seek actual, compensatory, special, and punitive damages, attorney's fees and cost of suit. Plaintiffs are represented by J. Neale deGravelles of deGravelles & Palmintier, L.L.P.
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:21-cv-01267-GGG-DMD