‘Let the N***ers Dig’: Florida Construction Company That Allegedly Made Black Workers Do ‘Degrading’ Tasks Must Pay $1.6M to Settle Civil Rights Lawsuit

Black and Hispanic workers at a Florida construction company who endured racial and ethnic slurs and were given “degrading” assignments were awarded $1.6 million in a settlement of a civil rights lawsuit filed on their behalf by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). J.A. Croson, a Sorrento, Florida-based plumbing and HVAC contractor, agreed last month to pay $850,000 to three Black employees who sued for racial discrimination and retaliation after they were fired or forced to quit. The company must also set up a $750,000 fund to compensate other former Black and Hispanic employees who said they suffered harassment and discrimination in a hostile work environment. According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 2022, several managers who supervised plumbers and plumber’s helpers working in an apprenticeship program at the company’s construction projects regularly called Black employees “n***er,” “boy,” and “biscuit lips,” and referred to Hispanic workers as “wetbacks,” “stupid Mexicans,” and “f-cking Puerto Ricans.” J.A. Croson employees at a construction site. (Photo: Facebook/J.A. Croson) Some managers openly displayed Confederate flags on their personal vehicles and held team meetings in workplace parking lots “in view of the Confederate flags,” the...