NEW ORLEANS – Two oil field service companies operating as a single employer allegedly violated federal law by failing to prevent widespread sexual and racial harassment in the workforce.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit September 27 in federal court against Bigfoot Energy Services and Iron Mountain Energy Services. The complaint focuses on treatment of a female employee named Anjuana Cherry, who is Black, and a male employee named Bradley May.
Cherry was hired as a truck driver in 2017. Beginning in 2020, she says a male dispatcher began subjecting her and others to sexual conduct, including displaying offensive sexually explicit and demeaning images of women. She says he also referred to himself using a nickname that was a reference to the size of his penis.
She says this dispatcher regularly talked about sex, showed her a GIF of a sex toy being inserted into a woman’s vagina, showed her a photograph of a woman having sex with two men, viewed pornography in front of her and a supervisor while describing what he saw in detail and often shared details of his sex life.
The complaint says a general manager made a sexual comment to Cherry once when she was bent over to pick up a pen and told her he wanted her husband to go out of town so “he could come be with her.” It says the general manager made similar comments to another female employee and said he wanted to lay his head between that woman’s breasts.
It says employees frequently used racial slurs, including the N-word, and sent racially offensive text messages to employees. One dispatcher displayed a confederate flag on his computer and referred to a Black coworker as “boy.”
The complaint also says May was subjected to unlawful retaliation.
May, who also was a truck driver, says he complained to the defendants about the sexually explicit text messages and images that were demeaning to women on September 2, 2020. The next day, May was fired. The complaint says another employee also was fired soon after complaining about other employees and supervisors using the N-word.
In addition, the complaint says Bigfoot engaged in unlawful employment practices from 2019 to 2021 by failing to file EEO-1 reports.
The EEOC seeks a permanent injunction against the defendants and its officers, agents and employees from discrimination against employees on the basis of sex or race. It also seeks an order for the defendants to institute and carry out policies, practices and programs to provide equal employment opportunities for employees and a permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from retaliation against employees.
The complaint also seeks past and future compensatory damages for Cherry and May and backpay for May as well as punitive damages and other relief. It also requests an order requiring Bigfoot to make, preserve and filed accurate employment records.
“When a workplace is rife with racially and sexually derogatory comments, the fundamental conditions of employment change for all Black and female workers,” EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Elizabeth Owen said. “Such conduct is not only deeply offensive, but also illegal.”
Michael Kirkland, director of the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office, agreed.
“Enforcing Title VII is crucial to ensuring that every individual has the right to work in an environment free from discrimination and harassment,” he said. “By holding employers accountable, we protect the fundamental rights of employees and promote fairness and equality in the workplace.”
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:24-cv-2361