DENVER: The second-largest producer of beef, pork and rooster within the U.S. pays as much as $5.5 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed the corporate discriminated in opposition to Muslim staff at a meat processing plant in northern Colorado.
The U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee filed the lawsuit in federal courtroom in Denver in 2010, saying JBS Swift & Firm discriminated in opposition to staff at its beef processing plant in Greeley by denying them lavatory breaks and disciplining them extra harshly than different staff as a result of they have been Muslim, immigrants from Somalia, and Black.
JBS USA LLC, doing enterprise as JBS Swift & Firm, should pay the $5.5 million to about 300 staff who have been included within the settlement, which was introduced by the fee on Wednesday.
Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman for JBS USA, stated the corporate doesn’t admit any legal responsibility within the settlement, prohibits all discrimination and harassment at its amenities and “is dedicated to variety and inclusion within the office.”
Based on the lawsuit, JBS prevented Muslim staff from praying and harassed them once they tried to hope throughout scheduled breaks and toilet breaks.
JBS additionally was accused of shutting off water fountains in the course of the holy month of Ramadan in 2008, protecting Muslim Somali staff from getting a drink at sunset after a day of fasting, and from washing earlier than prayers. Based on the lawsuit, JBS managers and different staff threw meat or bones at Black and Somali staff, known as them offensive names and tolerated offensive graffiti in restrooms on the Greeley plant, together with using the N-word, “Somalis are disgusting,” “F—- Somalians” and “F—- Muslims.”
“This case serves as a reminder that systemic discrimination and harassment stay vital issues that we as a society should sort out,” EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows stated in an announcement.
JBS should take a number of steps to forestall additional discrimination, together with permitting former staff coated beneath the settlement to be eligible for rehire; reviewing, updating and posting its anti-discrimination insurance policies; and sustaining a 24-hour hotline for reporting discrimination. The corporate additionally might be required to supply quiet places aside from bogs for workers to hope.
Many Somalis began working on the Greeley plant following a 2006 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid during which 270 Hispanic staff have been detained.
The therapy of the Somali staff got here to a head two years later once they requested firm officers to maneuver the plant’s scheduled meal break so they might cease fasting at sundown throughout Ramadan.
Officers agreed to an earlier meal break however modified course three days later and, in line with the lawsuit, Muslim staff who have been advised to go outdoors to hope weren’t allowed again into the plant.
Days later, a number of staff have been fired for what the corporate stated was an unauthorized work stoppage, in line with the lawsuit.
