Even though Porous Materials' management was familiar with the supervisor's behavior, they did nothing, according to the civil rights suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The supervisor verbally attacked these workers, while the firm's owner and HR manager did not step in to stop the harassment, the suit notes.
The supervisor allegedly called employees born outside the U.S. "terrorists," prevented immigrant workers from speaking anything other than English and told one black female employee that her spouse "should have a rope put around his neck and be dragged through a cotton field." That employee, a native of France, was fired after making repeated complaints.
The suit also notes that the HR manager did not act even when the supervisor made the comments with the manager present. "The company owner, rather than putting a stop to this, behaved similarly; he called female employees 'dumb women,' complained that 'these women can't do anything,' and told a women she would not be getting a raise because of her sex," the EEOC notes in its suit.
Porous Materials founder and chief executive, Krishna Gupta, denies the allegations and says he will strongly defend his firm against the suit, the Ithaca Journal reports.
Read the full article from Syracuse.com.