A federal jury Wednesday awarded nearly $15 million to seven Commerce City warehouse workers who accused a trucking company of segregating workers by race, calling blacks “lazy, stupid Africans” and punishing those who complained.
Six of the plaintiffs are black, many from Mali. One plaintiff is a white whistle-blower who was fired for challenging racist practices of the California-based company. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in 2010.
“I thought I was back South again with the same old racist attitudes,” said plaintiff Ernie Duke, who was raised in Missouri.
The verdict against Matheson Trucking and Matheson Flight Extenders Inc. included $14 million in punitive damages, said attorney Lynn Feiger, who was among those representing the workers. The company handles and transports mail for the Postal Service and private vendors, including United Parcel Service and FedEx.
A Matheson attorney said the company would appeal.
“(Matheson) prides itself on hiring and employing a highly diverse workforce consisting of men and women of different races and cultures,” attorney Stacey Campbell said in a statement to The Denver Post.
The judgment included $318,000 of back pay for employees who were fired, furloughed or had their hours cut because of their race, said plaintiff attorney Justin Plaskov. An additional $650,000 was awarded for emotional distress. Also, Matheson probably will have to pay the plaintiffs’ legal costs.
All but two plaintiffs are or were mail handlers at a warehouse at 6875 E. 54th Place in Commerce City. Four plaintiffs were from Mali. One is from Brazil.
At the business, black employees all worked on one side of the warehouse and whites worked on the other side, the lawsuit said. White supervisors and staffers called employees racial epithets and “lazy, stupid Africans.”
White employees and supervisors often used the N-word when referring to black workers, including an instance when an employee yelled that all blacks should be shot. A supervisor who heard the comment didn’t discipline the white employee, who later was promoted to a supervisory position, the lawsuit said.
When Dean Patricelli, a white co-worker, stood up to his bosses because of the discrimination, he was labeled “Bemba’s boy” — a reference to one black worker — and “the tribe’s assistant,” the lawsuit said.
“Basically, I did the right thing. This isn’t 1960 anymore,” said Patricelli,
a single father who was fired soon afterward.
The plaintiffs obtained internal company memos that indicated supervisors were using a downsizing to target black employees for firing, including Duke, who had been working at the company for nine years and was second in seniority.
All the Africans who worked the graveyard shift, from midnight to 7 a.m., were laid off, Plaskov said. White temporary workers were given the shifts.
Racism became “endemic” after 2007, when Leslie Capra became the station manager, the lawsuit said.
“Ms. Capra became more openly hostile towards black employees, encouraging the supervisors and leads under her management to do likewise,” the lawsuit says. “Under Ms. Capra’s management, black employees were discriminated against with respect to almost every aspect of their employment.”
The plaintiffs are Duke, Patricelli, Mahamet Camara, Andre De Oliveira, Bemba Diallo, Salif Diallo and Macire Diarra
. The lead attorney was Brian Moore.
The plaintiffs, who were part-time workers, were discriminated against at all phases of employment, including hiring, termination, conditions of employment, promotion, vacation pay, furlough, discipline, work shifts, benefits and wages, the lawsuit said.
For example, all employees liked working holidays because they would get double pay. But supervisors gave the shifts only to white employees, including those with less seniority than black counterparts, the lawsuit says.
Those who complained about their treatment were retaliated against, said Diallo, who fled Mali with his family in 2001, abandoning an international business with 26 employees after a coup.
