Fort Worth company displayed nooses, white supremacy symbols, EEOC discrimination suit says

A Fort Worth crane company subjected four Black employees to racial discrimination and harassment, including hanging nooses in the workplace, according to a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit filed Thursday against TNT Crane & Rigging Inc.

In a news release, the EEOC said TNT Crane & Rigging created a hostile work environment for the Black employees through the open display of nooses and white supremacy symbols, along with being subjected to derogatory terms and racial slurs by employees and managers.

The EEOC also charged the company, which has over 40 branches in the United States and Canada, with retaliating against a white employee for raising allegations of race-based discrimination at its Fort Worth branch. The employee reported the racial discrimination and harassment, which included a noose in the workplace, to multiple levels of management and HR, according to the EEOC press release. However, the company took no effective action, the EEOC said.

Management reduced that employee’s hours and pay following his complaints, the suit says, and the employee resigned.

A representative of the company could not immediately be reached Friday for comment on the lawsuit.

In the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, the EEOC seeks compensatory damages and punitive damages for the four Black employees. Additionally, the EEOC seeks back pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages and reinstatement or front pay for the white employee.

The allegations violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who report discriminatory treatment, the EEOC said.

“We would hope that after 60 years of statutory protections of federal anti-discrimination laws, we could have moved far beyond the grim and hate-fueled threat messages of nooses and Nazi symbols,” said Dallas EEOC Regional Attorney Robert Canino in the release. “The U.S. courts, however, remain an effective forum by which we can educate the public and ensure compliance through monetary and injunctive remedies.”

TNT Crane & Rigging filed for bankruptcy in 2020, according to court documents. The company was restructured as a private company in October 2020 with a new ownership group and received a $225 million loan.

Mark Irion took over as the company’s new chief executive officer in March 2023.