A painting contractor based in New England has been ordered to pay two former employees more than $1.5m each by a court in New Haven, Connecticut.
The court ruled that the company had discriminated against the men on racial grounds.
— Global Construction Review
The lawsuit alleged that a Sudanese-American employee, Yosif Bakhit, and an African-American employee, Kiyada Miles, of the firm Safety Marking faced a "pattern of abuse," racist harassment including insults and slurs, and racial discrimination, including being passed over for promotions that were instead given to less qualified white employees.
According to allegations, a caucasian colleague painted Miles' arm white and said to him, "That’s the only way you are going to move up in the company.” Bakhit reported an incident in which a foreman asked him to open an aspirin bottle then said, “I just wanted to see a black man pick cotton.”
Following a two-week trial, a federal jury ordered Safety Marking to give $1.4M in punitive damages to each man, as well as compensation from former colleagues named in the lawsuit.
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