Former United Electrical Contractors employees detail allegations of rampant racism in lawsuit

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LANSING, Mich. Six former employees of United Electrical Contractors have filed a lawsuit against the Lansing-based company.

The lawsuit accuses middle to high management of racial harassment on construction sites.

At a press conference on Thursday, the group of lawyers for former employees, Richard Mack, spoke about instances of racial harassment that one of its clients experienced on their first day on the job.

He (the plaintiffs’ boss) said: Are you Arab, Muslim or napkin-head? It’s your boss, first conversation at work, Mack said. Of course, when he (the complainant) complains, he (the boss) says that you should go back to your plantation, then his boss says that I will make you leave my site.

One of the former employees, Gabriel Tavera, said he heard colleagues and managers using racial slurs towards him and others every day.

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Calling me a brown boy or the n-word, telling me to go back to Mexico despite being born in the United States, Tavera said.

Marius Richardson, another former employee, said: At one point a white co-worker told me to hurry up or he’d whip out his whip.

The six men involved in the lawsuit said the company knew what was going on but did nothing, which is why they are filing the lawsuit.

The justice we would like to see from this is that United Electrical Contractors be held accountable for letting its employees deal with us with such harsh harassment, said Eric Burch, another former employee.

UEC President Scott Flegler released the following statement:

We have reviewed the complaint released today, which includes new unsubstantiated allegations as part of an ongoing harassment campaign by a union designed to interfere with our company’s operations and relationships.

These claims had never been presented to anyone in our company. We take any allegation of discrimination very seriously and we usually do. When these same complainants filed allegations against us with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year, we conducted a thorough and independent review, finding nothing to support those allegations.

Notably, the EEOC has yet to even complete its review of the previously filed claims, but these new allegations have nonetheless been made public by the union. It further establishes that the real purpose of today’s announcement was to harass and harm our business.

Most importantly, we are proud of our diverse and talented workforce. Diversity is one of our core values ​​and key business differentiators, which is why our employees receive diversity training.

We appreciate the continued support of our customers, who trust the quality and reliability of our team, while respecting the values ​​of our company.

President Scott Fleger

Jimmy Greene, CEO and President of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Michigan released a statement calling the lawsuit bogus and the claims false.

I’ve never heard anything close to that. I know one of the complainants and have never heard that come out of his mouth. I never had it cross my desk, not once, Greene said.

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He leads the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative in Michigan and is also part of it nationally, so he takes racism very seriously.

If I’m wrong, I apologize, but I don’t think I am and there’s a series of coincidences that people ask me to believe, frankly, I’m not going to believe it, Greene said.

Attorney Robert Mack responded to Greenes’ statement with the following statement:

It is shockingly shameful but not surprising that Jimmy Greene is defending this obscenely racist and discriminatory behavior by United Electrical Contractors. The ABC press release never denies the racist conduct of managers and colleagues, but blindly praises the UEC, whatever its racist antics.

Greene himself was filmed bragging to United Electrical workers that he could talk black shit, Republican shit in non-union stores. In his statements to UEC workers, he literally promotes racial harassment in the workplace, as a perk for not working in a union shop. His endorsement of racial harassment is the video is similar to his support of racism in this press release.

Greene and ABC clearly don’t believe in creating a workplace that values ​​diversity, where everyone can feel safe and be treated with decency and respect. Greene should stand with the workers, but instead defends the racist management and employees of United Electrical Contractors. Shameful!

Lawyer Richard Mack

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