Janitorial Service Provider Diversified Maintenance Systems, LLC of Baltimore will pay $750,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle a federal race discrimination, harassment and retaliation lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.
In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that since at least January, 2012, Diversified engaged in an ongoing pattern or practice of race discrimination against African-American job applicants in Maryland and the Washington D.C. and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. The company refused to hire blacks for custodian, lead custodian or porter positions, the EEOC said.
The EEOC also charged that district managers racially harassed an African-American janitorial supervisor by calling him racial slurs and using other abusive language in the presence of customers and employees. Although he complained to upper management and the human resources department, Diversified did not stop the harassment. Instead, the company retaliated against him by demoting him, altering his hours, work assignments and work conditions, and ultimately firing him, EEOC said.
