The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday it has filed a federal discrimination suit against Milwaukee Forge for allegedly subjecting African-American employees to a hostile work environment.

According to the agency, the steel forging company, at 1532 E. Oklahoma Ave., disciplined a white employee with a one-day suspension for calling an African-American co-worker a racial epithet and then fighting with other black employees who heard him.

On the other hand, the EEOC said that its investigators found that Milwaukee Forge either discharged or gave longer suspensions to African-American employees who complained to managers about harassment.

“No employer can permit African American employees to be targeted for harassment or intimidation or violence and then, in effect, penalize them for what they have endured,” John Hendrickson, a regional attorney in Chicago for the EEOC, said in a statement.. 

The agency filed its lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee after failing to settle the matter through a voluntary conciliation process.

The company could not be reached immediately for comment.

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel