Exxon Mobil Sued by Government for Racial Discrimination After 5 Nooses Found at Louisiana Plant

The federal government sued Exxon Mobil over claims the company failed to adequately address racial discrimination in the workplace after five nooses were found at a Louisiana facility.

“When employers become aware of racially offensive or threatening conduct in the workplace, they have a legal obligation to take prompt, remedial action aimed at stopping it,” Rudy Sustaita, a regional attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Houston District Office, said in a press release announcing the lawsuit Thursday.

According to the lawsuit, the energy giant violated federal law by failing to take appropriate action after a string of incidents between 2016 and 2020 at its Baton Rouge facility, including five incidents in which hangman’s nooses were found at the complex.

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The EEOC claims that the company investigated some but not all the incidents and “failed to take measures reasonably calculated to end the harassment.”

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According to a report by CBS News Friday, the company is pushing back against the lawsuit {snip}

“We encourage employees to report claims like this, and we thoroughly investigated,” the company told CBS.  {snip}