A federal judge in Alabama issued a judgment last month awarding nearly $1 million in damages to a Black millwright who alleged he was called the N-word by a co-worker, then demoted and fired by an industrial services company after he complained.
The judgment of $978,075 ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bradley Murray in Alabama was $338,000 more than a jury had awarded the plaintiff in May after hearing the racial discrimination case that Quentin Watts and his attorneys presented against his former employer, J & L Industrial Services, LLC.
In May of 2022, Watts, now 44, began working for J & L as a millwright on a project at a Georgia-Pacific plant in Cedar Springs, Georgia, according to his lawsuit filed in February of 2024 (and obtained by Atlanta Black Star). A millwright installs and maintains industrial equipment.
On a Friday, five days into the job, Watts alleges that as he was going to the tool trailer where a group of employees were having lunch, he heard co-worker Robert Macks say, “I see J & L hired this ni—er up in here” in reference to himself, the only Black worker on the project and in that room.
The racial epithet was also allegedly heard by three of his white co-workers, who were upset about it and joined Watts in reporting the comment to their direct supervisor, Michael Pruet, as well as to a project manager and the human resources director, who was on site that day.
Pruet told Watts that Macks would be terminated for making the racial slur, a serious violation of company policy, the lawsuit says. But when he got on the company bus for work that Monday, Watts saw Macks and realized he was still employed.
Watts then returned to the company’s headquarters in Monroeville, Alabama, to report Mack’s racist behavior in person to more senior company officials. So did two of the white employees who were angry about the racial incident, and they were terminated after doing so, the complaint alleges.
In its court filings, J & L contends that Macks admitted to using the N-word, but in another context. His version of the incident is that he said he was going to have to “ni—er-rig” his faulty welding shield to get it to work, and didn’t realize that Watts was nearby when he said it. He said that he immediately apologized to Watts, who accepted his apology. (Watts adamantly denies this.)
The company also said that Macks was suspended for three days without pay for the misconduct, and not fired, since it accepted that the n-word epithet was not aimed at Watts.
After Watts complained about Mack’s racist comment and the light punishment he was given, the complaint says, he was not allowed to go back to his lucrative position working as a millwright at the Cedar Springs plant and was reassigned to the Monroeville transportation shop, where he earned considerably less.
While the base pay for both jobs was $28 an hour, he was missing out on an extra $2 an hour in out-of-town pay, per diem and overtime compensation by working as a mechanic in the transportation shop versus working in the field as a millwright, according to the lawsuit.
Watts says he asked repeatedly to be redeployed as a millwright but was denied. Macks, meanwhile, continued working at Cedar Springs and later at other field jobs as a millwright.
The complaint also notes that after he reported Macks for calling him the racial slur, Macks began telling other employees that Watts’ work was substandard and that he’d had to redo some of his work.
On February 2, 2023, Watts received a termination notice advising him that he was terminated due to “reduction of force” and “job task complete,” which the lawsuit says were false, pretextual reasons, and that the real reason he was laid off was in retaliation for reporting racial discrimination.
The lawsuit asserts that Watts was a conscientious and hard-working employee who never received any write-ups or disciplinary actions for any reason, and that no one had ever complained to him about the quality of his work prior to his firing. In his termination paperwork, his performance was noted as “good,” and he was eligible for re-hire.
His complaint filed in 2023 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also noted that J & L was hiring for millwrights at the time they let Watts go.
In its motion to dismiss the case, J & L maintained that the decision for Watts to remain in the Monroeville shop was a mutual decision made with Watts and that it quickly became apparent after he was hired that Watts was not capable of performing millwright work, but his supervisors had retained him in hopes of providing additional training.
The company also argued that the nature of its work is cyclical and that it routinely lays off employees when work slows down, which it did starting in October 2022, eventually laying off 18 employees, both white and Black, by February 2023, when Watts was terminated.
After a two-day trial in May, the all-white, eight-member jury deliberated for a few hours before returning a unanimous verdict in favor of Watts, finding specifically that J & L had reassigned him and terminated him because of his race and due to his protected activity of complaining about the racial slurs.
Their verdict awarded him $639,240 — $39,240 for lost wages and benefits, $200,000 in compensation for emotional pain and mental anguish, and $400,000 in punitive damages.
In his judgment issued on July 8, Judge Murray affirmed the jury’s verdict and added another $338,835 in damages — $258,438 in front pay and $80,397 in back pay, for a total award of $978,075.
He also denied Watts’ requests for injunctive relief in the form of training for J & L employees and a letter of recommendation from the company.
Noting that the jury awarded “more than we requested” in May, Watts’ attorney Teresa Mastando said in a statement, “We believe this sends a strong message that intentional discrimination is not going to be tolerated and retaliation is in some ways worse as it punishes employees who bring bad acts to light.”
Eric Artrip, co-counsel for Watts, told Atlanta Black Star that he was surprised to win such a substantial verdict on his behalf from “eight conservative Caucasian jurors” in a “brutally conservative district” in southern Alabama.
He said that Watts was calm and composed when testifying about how the N-word was used and how complaining about it “resulted in a demotion and cut in pay.” After “hearing testimony from the employer’s witnesses,” Artrip said, “the jury found our client’s version compelling and credible.”
Watts, who was injured on another job after he left J & L, and has since been driving a peanut truck, is “very happy” with the large monetary award and was also surprised about the jury’s verdict, Artrip said.
“One of my takeaways is that people are perhaps getting a little less complacent about overt racism and retaliation,” Artrip said.
Attorneys for J & L Industrial Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star.
Great Job Jill Jordan Sieder & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
