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Conroe,
Texas-based Maverick Tube Corporation will pay $175,000 to settle a
retaliation discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.
The EEOC's
lawsuit, filed in June 2007, (C.A. 4:07-cv-02033 in U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division), charged that in
May 2005, Maverick Tube retaliated against Andra Williams by firing him
after he reported to its president and chief operating officer the
safety manager's racially offensive comments.
The company
investigated Williams's complaint and, as a result, discharged the
manager. But, less than a month after he reported the comments,
Williams was fired after he was falsely accused of saying he would call
the company's president to report his supervisor if he was not
permitted to have a requested vacation day. Before conducting any
investigation into the allegation made against Williams, the regional
human resources manager stated in an e-mail that Williams should be
immediately fired. In that same e-mail, the HR manager reminded his
readers that Williams had recently complained about the safety
manager's racial comments.
Retaliation for complaining about
discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The
EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.
The
four-year consent decree settling the suit, signed by U.S. Magistrate
Judge Stephen W. Smith, requires the company to pay $175,000 in
monetary relief to Williams. Additionally, the decree requires annual
mandatory training on Title VII for all of the company's managers and
employees at its Conroe facility. That training must include
instruction regarding the illegality of retaliating against employees
who complain about conduct which they believe to be discriminatory. The
company must also post an anti-discrimination notice, provide
monitoring reports to the EEOC and issue a disciplinary notice to the
company's regional human resources manager.
Maverick Tube
Corporation is a subsidiary of Tenaris. According to its website, it is
a leading supplier of tubes and related services for the energy
industry. It has 24,000 employees.
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