A Texas-based oil and gas company will pay $50,000 to settle a racial harassment lawsuit involving a Black employee in North Dakota.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Wednesday with Murex Petroleum Corp.
According to the lawsuit, Derrick Jenkins worked for Murex from April to September 2014 at its Tioga facility. The EEOC says Jenkins’ co-workers directed racial slurs at him and made racially derogatory comments. It says Jenkins’ supervisor witnessed the harassment, but did nothing about it.
The lawsuit says another African American employee complained to a high-level executive at the company about the harassment, but no action was taken.
The settlement requires Murex to revise its harassment policy to outline procedures for reporting complaints.
A spokeswoman for Murex Petroleum, based in Houston, was unavailable for comment.
