The vice president of an Aurora roofing company harassed black and female employees by subjecting them to racial slurs and explicit comments about their bodies, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in a lawsuit filed Friday.
The EEOC sued Rosemont-based Tecta America and its Aurora-based subsidiary Anthony Roofing in Chicago federal court after failing to reach a preliminary settlement with the companies.
The lawsuit alleged that Vice President Anthony Rufina “routinely” referred to a Black employee as his “slave,” among other racial slurs.
The same supervisor regularly made sexually explicit comments toward female employees, such as asking one woman if she was “pregnant or just fat,” according to the EEOC.
The vice president in question, who had hiring and firing authority at the company, also suggested that “women don't belong in the office,” the complaint alleges.
However, the company's harassment was not limited to the vice president, according to the EEOC. The lawsuit alleges that both supervisory and non-supervisory employees “also routinely engage in racial harassment against Black employees,” including calling Black employees “boys.”
The complaint says employees reported racial and sexual harassment to the company's human resources department, which took no action.
Company representatives allegedly responded to harassment complaints with disdain, including telling one employee that “nothing could be done” and warning him not to file complaints with outside agencies, the complaint states. One worker who reported alleged racial harassment ultimately quit after the company failed to take action to correct the problem, according to the EEOC.
The lawsuit, which alleges violations of the Civil Rights Act, seeks the return of wages to the fired worker and punitive damages to those who were harassed.
Anthony Roofing and Tecta did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. A status hearing in the case is scheduled for February.
