A home electronics retailer in Portland, Oregon, has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of two employees who said they were subjected to repeated slurs and jokes about their race, national origin, and religion.
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Download NowIn the lawsuit, the EEOC said two employees at Video Only were subjected to abuse that included use of the "Nword" by management; the telling of racially offensive "jokes"; use of the epithet "beaner"; and a doll with its hair and face painted black that was hog-tied and hung by a nail in the break room.
The EEOC also alleged that the company retaliated against the employees after they complained. The EEOC alleged that the retaliation included hiring a private investigator to gather information in an effort to discredit their harassment claims. The agency also claimed that company officials also confronted co-workers who supported the complainants by telling them they were hurting the company and trying to get them to quit.
The employees will be awarded $500,000 of the total $630,000 settlement. The remaining $130,000 resolved a related suit to which EEOC was not a party. The related suit alleged retaliation against two other employees.
Video Only also agreed to provide anti-discrimination training to all management and non-management employees in Oregon and at its headquarters store in Seattle.
In settling the lawsuit, the comany admitted no wrongdoing.
Video Only, Inc., has 18 stores located in Washington, California, and Oregon.