Parent company of Lexington methadone clinic must pay $110,000 to settle racial harassment lawsuit.

Parent company of Lexington methadone clinic must pay $110,000 to settle racial harassment lawsuit. Three black employees say they were subjected to racial epithets and white clients were reassigned if they didn't want black counselors.


The parent company of a Lexington methadone clinic must pay $110,000 and is under a three-year consent decree after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found evidence that three black employees were subjected to severe racial harassment, including being called the N-word by white clients.

In addition to the racial harassment, EEOC officials also say that clinic supervisors regularly granted white clients’ requests to not be seen by black counselors, according to court documents and a news release from the EEOC sent out Wednesday.

The federal agency filed the complaint and the proposed consent decree Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of North Carolina. The company is Treatment Centers, LLC, which is incorporated in Delaware, operates methadone clinics in North Carolina, including one in Lexington called Lexington Treatment Associates. The Lexington clinic has about 15 employees.

From February 2017 to at least July 2018, clinic supervisors created a racially hostile work environment for black employees Allen Parson, Marquita Williams and LaFonda Bruinton, the EEOC said. Parson and Bruinton worked as substance-abuse counselors and Williams was employed as a licensed practical nurse.

Read more: https://www.journalnow.com/news/local/parent-company-of-lexington-methadone-clinic-must-pay-to-settle/article_f785be3e-aaa2-52c3-ba40-a3077f1f04f3.html
(Winston-Salem Journal)