Terminated worker sues Brasfield & Gorrie for discrimination

Dive Brief:

• A former employee is suing Birmingham, Alabama-based contractor Brasfield & Gorrie for discrimination and retaliation, claiming his superintendent referred to him with an anti-gay slur because he wore earrings and called him a “dumbass Mexican.”
• The worker, who was hired as a rodman by Brasfield & Gorrie at its Atlanta location in November 2021, filed the suit in federal district court in Atlanta Jan. 13, alleging employment discrimination and retaliation on the basis of his race, national origin and sexual orientation, among other claims.
• The suit says that after the worker complained to Brasfield & Gorrie’s human resources department, the superintendent apologized, but that a few weeks later, the company terminated his employment, claiming it was due to a reduction in force. The worker’s suit alleges the firm let him go in retaliation for reporting the incident.

Dive Insight:

The worker’s suit alleges that in June 2022, he started asking his superintendent for a 90-day employment review in order to get an evaluation and raise because he was working as a rodman, but was only being paid as a laborer.

The superintendent responded that the firm didn’t give reviews to “people like him,” according to the suit. When the worker again asked for a raise in subsequent months, his superintendent told him he didn’t deserve a raise because he was unprofessional, didn’t have a good attitude and was immature, according to court documents.

When the worker asked a third time for a raise, the superintendent evaluated his performance as “fine” and increased his pay by $1 per hour, according to the suit.

But during the same conversation, the superintendent used a graphic, anti-gay slur to ask the worker whether having both of his ears pierced indicated he was a homosexual, according to the complaint, prompting another supervisor who was close by to laugh.

When the worker questioned the appropriateness of the comment, the suit says, the superintendent then claimed his earrings were a safety hazard, even though the firm doesn’t have a policy to that effect. That’s when the worker complained to HR, the suit says, and was dismissed shortly after.

Brasfield & Gorrie, a Top 25 contractor and one of the nation’s largest privately held construction firms with revenue of $4.2 billion in 2021, declined to address the allegations for this article. A company spokesperson said the firm does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Increased focus on construction

Discrimination and retaliation suits have gained prominent attention in the construction industry in recent years.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is tasked with reviewing employment discrimination claims and issued a perfunctory “right to sue” in the worker’s case in December, has increased its focus on the industry.

In May 2022, the agency held a hearing spotlighting racism and discrimination in construction, pointing to the graphic and disturbing nature of reported bias-motivated incidents in the sector.

Since then, EEOC has issued a steady stream of fines and collected settlements from construction companies for acts of discrimination and retaliation. Attorneys for Memphis, Tennessee-based law firm Baker Donelson recently catalogued those actions in a JD Supra posting highlighting EEOC’s focus on the industry.

The worker’s suit is asking for general and punitive damages against Brasfield & Gory in a jury trial, as well as reinstatment in his job and prohibitions against the company for similar conduct in the future.