Judge rules against Magna company in racial discrimination suit

SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has ruled against a Utah construction company accused of creating a hostile environment for black employees.

U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball granted partial summary judgment to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its lawsuit against Magna-based Holmes & Holmes Industrial Inc.

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged a Holmes site superintendent referred to three black employees with racial slurs almost every time he spoke to them, and frequently told racial jokes, including ones about lynching.

The suit filed in 2010 also claims the portable toilets at the work site had racist graffiti on the inside and outside.

Kimball found the behavior was "constitutionally offensive," and also objected to Holmes’ anti-harassment policy, which would require employees to report harassment to the supervisor that was doing the harassing.