Garrison Law attorneys Steve Fitzgerald, Josh Goodbaum, and Betsy Ingraham have filed a lawsuit on behalf of five electricians against Amazon.com Inc., Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc., and RC Andersen LLC alleging a hostile work environment on the basis of race and retaliation.
The lawsuit claims that Amazon and two of its construction contractors allowed workers to endure a racially hostile work environment before and after they found nooses at their Connecticut job site in 2021 and that the victims of the hateful threats were treated like perpetrators during an FBI investigation. The lawsuit also claims that each defendant was “on notice” of potential workplace nooses after another noose was discovered at an Amazon job site in Bloomfield in 2017.
The plaintiffs allege violations of a variety of federal and state laws, including Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was enacted in the wake of the Civil War to ensure equal citizenship for Americans of African descent.
Lead counsel Steve Fitzgerald said: “One of the primary points of the case is obviously that no people of color should have to work in an environment where even one noose is hung. A noose is the most hateful symbol of racism in this country.”
The lawsuit has received widespread media coverage.
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