The federal government has sued ExxonMobil over what attorneys say is a racially hostile work environment at the company’s Baton Rouge energy complex, alleging ExxonMobil didn’t respond adequately to the discovery of nooses in the workplace.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit March 2 in the Middle District of Louisiana on behalf of a Black employee, Milferd McGhee, who found a hangman’s noose at his worksite in January 2020. Five hangman’s nooses were reportedly found at the ExxonMobil site between April 2016 and December 2020, according to the civil lawsuit.
The EEOC alleges that the company looked into the circumstances surrounding some of the noose incidents but failed to take reasonable steps to end the harassment.
“A noose is a longstanding symbol of violence associated with the lynching of African Americans,” Elizabeth Owen, a senior EEOC trial attorney in New Orleans, said in a prepared statement. “Such symbols are inherently threatening and significantly alter the workplace environment for Black Americans.”
ExxonMobil, however, called the allegations unfounded and said it would vigorously defend itself in the litigation.
“We thoroughly investigated the allegations raised in the EEOC at the time they were made and were unable to substantiate the claims,” ExxonMobil spokesman Todd Spitler told the Louisiana Record in an email. “On that basis, it’s not clear why the federal government is suing our company.”
During two of the incidents, company investigations took place in conjunction with local law enforcement, and the incidents remained unsubstantiated, Spitler said, adding that ExxonMobil is committed to maintaining a workplace free of harassment or bias.
“It is unfortunate the EEOC would choose to pursue this lawsuit given that the underlying allegations have been thoroughly investigated and unsubstantiated,” he said. “As significantly, the EEOC’s lawsuit makes claims that are deeply inconsistent with our company’s long-held practice of holding employees and contractors to the highest level of conduct.”
The EEOC complaint acknowledges that two contractors were banned from the jobsite after the first noose incident. But the company ultimately failed to put measures or policies in place to prevent further workplace harassment, the lawsuit states.
The EEOC is seeking a permanent injunction to stop ExxonMobil from allowing racial discrimination against employees as well as compensation for McGhee for mental pain, suffering and humiliation, plus punitive damages.