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A Houston energy company will pay $98,900 and provide additional remedial relief to resolve a discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC had charged GES Global Energy Services, Inc., (GES) formerly known as IDM Equipment, Inc., and Global Energy Services Operating, LLC, formerly known as IDM Equipment, LLC (Global Energy Services) with race discrimination and retaliation against a group of African-Americans who worked in its “rig-up yard” in Houston.
The EEOC’s lawsuit (Civil Action No. 4:10cv4977 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division) asserted that Jesse Cormier, Daniel Booth, Kelvin Turner and other African-Americans working at the defendants’ Galayda Street plant in Houston were subjected to a racially hostile work environment and that Cormier, Booth and Turner were discharged after they complained.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual harassment and pregnancy) or national origin, and prohibits employers from retaliating against those who complain about such misconduct. The EEOC filed the lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.
Under the terms of the two-year consent decree settling the suit, signed Sept. 21 by U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller, the defendants will pay $98,900 in relief to compensate Cormier, Booth and Turner. Also, the decree requires significant non-monetary relief, including that the defendants’ employees at the Galayda Street facility receive periodic training on laws prohibiting employment discrimination and that a non-discrimination notice will be posted in an agreed-upon location there.