Graffiti on portable restrooms can be a persistent and time-consuming problem for you and your technicians. The labor and cost of cleaning supplies adds up over time, and frustration over this senseless vandalism mounts over every time one of your units is tagged.
But a California construction company recently found out about the immense cost of letting racially charged graffiti continue unchecked at a major work site on the campus of the University of Southern California. Faced with a federal harassment lawsuit due in part to ongoing portable restroom graffiti, San Francisco-based Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co. has agreed to pay $725,000 to Black and Hispanic workers for graffiti and language that were deemed racially offensive.
The lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged that the company failed to take effective action to correct racially charged restroom graffiti and other behavior on the $700 million construction project where Hathaway Dinwiddie served as general contractor over several years. The EEOC determined the conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
WHAT ABOUT SUBCONTRACTORS?
According to an EEOC release announcing the settlement, the construction company will — in addition to paying the workers — retain an equal opportunity monitor to review its Title VII compliance, review and revise its harassment and retaliation policies and procedures, and provide training to all employees on racial harassment and retaliation. Further, Hathaway agreed to have its subcontractors verify that they follow similar policies and procedures.
“We commend Hathaway for taking steps to hold subcontractors accountable and address this ongoing industry-wide problem. We continue to see racial harassment as an ongoing problem. We encourage all employers, including those in the construction field, to review their harassment policies and procedures to make sure they are in compliance with federal law,” said Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOC Los Angeles office.
The suit contended that, “Starting in 2015, the racially offensive and derogatory graffiti was prevalent in the portable toilet facilities, which were frequented by [Hathaway’s] managers. Also, starting in 2015, the claimants had repeatedly complained about the racial harassment either directly to defendant Hathaway’s management or to the management of their direct employers, the contractors or subcontractors of the USC project.”
Despite the settlement, the construction company denied allegations of harassment or that it violated federal anti-harassment laws. In a news review of the suit, Hathaway said its “foreman, supervisors and project managers did everything possible to respond to the cases where graffiti was scribbled on portable toilets by an unknown party.” And further, the company said it has a zero-tolerance for harassment and conducted training with workers and subcontractors covering its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
This is unfortunately not the only case to reach the courts alleging racial discrimination based partly on job site portable restroom graffiti. In a handful of lawsuits filed in California and elsewhere, workers complained about seeing images of swastikas, nooses and racist language drawn on portable restrooms. Additional concerns were also raised that worksite employers didn’t take these complaints seriously enough.
LIABILITY CONCERN
In this case, the construction company faced financial consequences. But how hard it is to imagine that one day the company placing and responsible for cleaning portable sanitation equipment could be impacted negatively by a similar lawsuit? At the very least, PROs could become involved in settlements like this one by being asked to prove they have anti-harassment, diversity and inclusion policies in place when incidents occur.
All this points to the very real potential for liability for PROs who are often the first line of defense where graffiti is concerned. Here are some suggested actions that will help ensure you are never involved in this type of situation that could become both a financial catastrophe and a public relations nightmare.
Train your workers
Good community behavior in areas of diversity and inclusion starts at home, and that means making sure your employees are setting good examples for your customers on job sites. Train your crew about racial discrimination issues and set your own zero-tolerance policies for your own business. The EEOC has identified six national priorities in its Strategic Enforcement Plan, or SEP. You can learn about federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination at www.eeoc.gov.
Take complaints seriously
If one of your workers lodges a complaint about racial discrimination or witnesses a questionable situation on a worksite, don’t sweep it under the rug. Meet with the employee, listen and take proactive steps. Encourage your workers to speak up if they are ever uncomfortable on a job site. Have discussions with your minority employees to hear their concerns and act accordingly to reassure them the company cares about providing a positive workplace atmosphere.
Talk to customers about graffiti
According to the EEOC, Hathaway should have known about the extent of the problem because company managers used the portable restrooms containing derogatory graffiti. Perhaps your clients aren’t as observant as they should be about the condition of their portable restrooms. On construction sites, they may not pay attention to graffiti, holes drilled in walls or other forms of vandalism, for example. Use this story as a catalyst to talk to customers about the importance of inspecting units their workers use. Explain that you are their partners to keep the restrooms free of graffiti, racially charged or otherwise, and help prevent costly damage to the equipment. Working together, you can reduce damage to your units and create a positive work environment.
Don’t allow anyone to compound the problem
If there is an issue with offensive graffiti, do everything in your power to nip it in the bud. Check the units more frequently. Consider the graffiti as a symptom of other bad behaviors among workers on the job site and your technicians in the field. Keep in mind that racially charged language was the second component mentioned in the EEOC lawsuit, so train your workers that if they see or hear something, they need to say something. Situations involving discrimination of any kind can blow up quickly and take a terrible toll on both the victims of the discrimination and the companies who may end up being held responsible through financial damages.
Equip and empower all employees
You want technicians to take action immediately when they find offensive graffiti on a portable restroom. Make sure they have effective products to remove the graffiti quickly and easily. If they can’t remove the graffiti right away, provide locks or zip ties to decommission units in question until they can clean them properly. A proactive step would be to provide graffiti remover to your customer’s site manager so the scribbling can be removed when it’s noticed between your service calls. You can also ask them to call you immediately upon noticing offensive graffiti so you can respond quickly.
DO THE RIGHT THING
Certainly the financial consequences for this construction company steal all the headlines. But the bigger and sadder story here is that racism can still be found on American worksites, and hateful messages scrawled on the walls of portable restrooms.
The portable sanitation industry is racially diverse, and PROs I know earnestly want to create a welcoming workplace for employees of all colors. In fact, I would say that many in the restroom industry are very good at looking beyond their cultural differences or the color of their skin and finding ways to get along together. I think partly it’s because we all know the work is hard, the hours are long and dealing with wastewater can be challenging and unpleasant. Being part of a happy team makes a tough job more enjoyable.
