The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., which ranks as one of the industry’s largest contractors, has been accused in a federal civil rights lawsuit of creating a racially hostile work environment at a Tennessee project site and of retaliating against employees who complained.

美国平等就业机会委员会（EEOC），该委员会提交了13页complaintagainst Whiting-Turner in U.S. district court in Nashville on Sept. 30, claims that between May 2018 and the fall of 2019 Black laborers at the contractor's Google data center worksite in Clarksville, Tenn., were harassed because of their race, and that some were fired after they complained.

总部位于巴尔的摩的Whiting-Turner是6亿美元的Google数据中心的总承包商，该中心于2018年2月破土动工，并于2019年11月开业。该公司拥有约4,235名员工，排名第五ENR’s Top 400 Contractors列表，在2020年报告了87亿美元的建筑收入。

Whiting-Turner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company segregated Black workers and placed them on an all-Black crew, the complaint states. The Black employees were routinely given the toughest and least desirable assignments such as working without shade, while White employees were given easier assignments like operating forklifts and working in the shade or indoors.

一名白人船员被任命为全黑团体，反复称这些男人为“男孩”，“ M ----- f -----”和“ You”，而不是使用他们的名字，并经常告诉他们“得到Ya Black的驴子重返工作岗位。”

Nearly every porta-potty on the site was covered in racist graffiti with references to the KKK, White Power, the N-word and demands that Black people “go back to Africa,” the complaint states.

合格的黑人工人也忽视了supervisory roles, according to the complaint. In one case, a Black employee not offered a crew lead position while working for Whiting-Turner was later made a crew lead when he worked for a subcontractor at the same worksite. EEOC also contends that a White crew leader later appointed to supervise the all-Black group also treated workers in a “demeaning and disrespectful manner.”

Whiting-Turner failed to provide the Black workers with a copy of its anti-discrimination policy and never trained them in how to report racial harassment or discrimination, according to the complaint. When they complained anyway, the company failed to investigate the complaints while they worked on the project. When one worker complained to an assistant superintendent, he was told to “let it go,” saying the White crew leader was “old-fashioned.”

投诉称，两名工人小克利福德·鲍威尔（Clifford Powell）和达伦·赖利（Darren Riley）在团队会议上公开抱怨他们在工作中接受治疗的方式，当天晚些时候他们都被解雇了。

The lawsuit seeks a yet-undetermined amount of money for the Black workers, plus injunctive relief to prevent similar circumstances.

EEOC表示，在提起诉讼之前，它试图与Whiting-Turner达成前定居点。