HOUSTON – A federal agency is suing a fracking company for race-based harassment and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit, alleging that a business, Downhole Technology, fired one of its black employees after he complained about racial intimidation.
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Kenneth Echols said his white co-workers had used a KKK-style white hood to ridicule and insult him, a news release from the EEOC said.
Rather than addressing Echols’ concerns when the company was made aware of the harassment allegations, Downhole Technology reprimanded and then fired Echols, the lawsuit contends.
If it’s true, this violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination.
“Employers cannot and must not discriminate on the basis of an employee’s race,” said Rayford Irvin, director for the EEOC’s Houston District Office, which has jurisdiction over parts of Texas and all of Louisiana. “Doing so denies employment equality and violates federal law.”
The EEOC filed its suit in the Houston Division of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas after the federal agency tried to reach a settlement agreement with Downhole Technology. That process was unsuccessful.
The group wants a court to order Downhole Technology to pay Echols punitive and compensatory damages, in addition to lost wages and benefits.
Downhole Technology manufactures equipment used in hydraulic fracturing, more often called fracking.