TSA workers complain about workplace harassment

On Behalf of | Aug 19, 2019 | Employee Rights |

New Jersey workers can face racial discrimination and harassment in a variety of settings, including in the high-pressure environment of airport security. In the baggage screening area at one international airport, a makeshift noose was discovered. As a result, two Transportation Security Agency (TSA) workers were suspended with pay while an investigation is pursued. The discovery comes following repeated complaints of harassment and racism on the job for TSA employees. Officials described the noose as an “offensive display”, and it was found in an employees-only area that was closed to passengers and the public.

TSA employees are not alone in complaining about being treated differently because of their race on the job or harassed with racist remarks or slurs. In June 2019, one black worker at a Boeing plant in South Carolina sued the aerospace firm. He also reported finding a noose near his desk and said that other workers at the plant urinated near his chair and desk in an attempt to harass him and force him from the job. He says that after he complained about the racist abuse, he faced retaliation from the company. Earlier in the year, in March 2019, a group of 19 UPS workers said that they also found a noose at the distribution center in Ohio where they worked.

They said that the noose came as part of a pattern of racial discrimination and harassment at the facility. Later, UPS fired two workers at the facility, labeling the harassment “peer-to-peer racially offensive conduct”.The shipping company pledged to implement policies to prevent discrimination on the job.

Despite the prominence of these incidents of racial harassment and workplace discrimination, workers continue to suffer on the job. Workers who have been denied opportunities can consult with an employment law attorney about how they can seek justice.

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