There's a noose problem at an Exxon Mobil facility in Louisiana so bad that the federal government is suing the company over its failure to address the problem.
At least five nooses were found at the company's Baton Rouge facility between 2016 and 2020, according to the lawsuit, and apparently the company didn't do much to curtail the acts of racial aggression.
"When employers become aware of racially offensive or threatening conduct in the workplace, they have a legal obligation to take prompt, remedial action aimed at stopping it," Rudy Sustaita, a regional attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Houston District Office, said in a press release
The fifth incident with a noose occurred in December 2020 and another was reported by a black employee in January of that year.
The lawsuit claims that while Exxon investigated some, but not all, incidences, the company "failed to take measures reasonably calculated to end the harassment."
Even isolated displays of racially threatening symbols are unacceptable in American workplaces," Michael Kirkland, director of the EEOC’s New Orleans field office, said in a statement.
CBS News reported that the company is pushing back against the lawsuit, saying it has a "zero tolerance policy of an form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace."
Folks on social media were horrified to learn what had taken place.
