A major national job placement company is accused of discriminating against black workers in favor of Hispanic workers in factories, on assembly lines and in low-skilled positions. The claim was made in a federal class action lawsuit recently filed on behalf of numerous African American workers, who say companies favored Hispanic workers because it was believed they would be less likely to complain about poor working conditions and pay. 
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Chicago, alleges a temporary employment agency called Personnel Staffing Group LLC and its clients used code words to conceal hiring decisions that were racially motivated and in violation of federal civil rights law. For example, they would refer to black hires as “guapos,” which is Spanish for , “pretty boys.” This was intended to mean they would not be open to doing “dirty work.” Meanwhile, they referred to Hispanic workers either as “feos,” which is Spanish for, “ugly ones,” or sometimes as, “bilinguals.”
Black workers say they were given just one assignment, sometimes over the course of several months, despite showing up every day. They would wait hours for an assignment that never came, watching as one-by-one, the Hispanic workers were called to various jobs. Some of the black workers say that when they were given an assignment, it was often for the most dangerous, undesirable posts. Plus, they were usually the only workers who received background checks, while their Hispanic counterparts did not. Continue Reading ›
Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog
In the complaint, plaintiffs alleged that their supervisor routinely made racist or otherwise inappropriate comments to all of the black employees under her control. The lawsuit also mentioned the sexual harassment allegations against former company chief Roger Ailes, as well as other recent allegations of creating a hostile workplace. Continue Reading ›
