A federal lawsuit alleges that Lake Orion-based Environmental Wood Solutions, a trucking and garbage hauling company that does business in Detroit and Brighton, put up with a racially-charged environment which included the repeated use of the n-word and seperate bathrooms for Black workers.
Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press reports that employee Darryl Morgan, one of nine men suing the company, says he recalls the hateful words that came over the CB radio as he sat in his work truck: Porch monkeys. N-word. Beaners.
The suit also alleges that Blacks were paid more than Blacks, who were forced to drive lower-quality trucks,
Baldas reports:
On a regular basis, Morgan says, he and eight of his co-workers put up with such racial slurs while working for Lake Orion-based Environmental Wood Solutions...But the name-calling wasn't the worst of it, he says, alleging racism ran the gamut at work, including:
A noose turned up in a bathroom. The letters KKK were scrawled on a door. A note bearing the N-word showed up on a communal microwave... According to court records and multiple employees, the company had a whites-only restroom at the Detroit transfer station on Ferry Street that was cleaned by professionals, and a separate, dirty bathroom for minorities to use and clean themselves.
In a statement to the Free Press, EWS called the allegations baseless.
"We are disappointed by the unfounded allegations of a few former employees and will defend ourselves against these claims," the statement reads.
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