Tulsa company will pay former employee nearly $50K in racial harassment lawsuit

A Tulsa commercial printing, direct mailing and direct marketing company will pay nearly $50,000 in a racial harassment settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC announced the $47,500 settlement Wednesday. The lawsuit charged that a ResourceOne supervisor called an employee several derogatory names after learning of her African heritage.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, in August 2022 a ResourceOne employee's DNA test kit showed Cameroon and Congo ancestry. The employee's supervisor called her derogatory names when she shared the results, the EEOC said.

When the employee took the matter to a higher-level manager, the manager did nothing to stop the harassments.

The EEOC said the harassment was so bad, the employee resigned, after which the supervisor sent her a derogatory text message.

According to the EEOC, this violated the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act , which prohibits discrimination and harassment in the workplace based on genetic information. ResourceOne also violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which prohibits workplace discrimination and harassment based on national origin and race, the agency said.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

The EEOC said the consent decree settling the suit requires ResourceOne to pay $47,500 to the employee and to adopt new policies to prevent future discrimination.

For more information, click HERE .