A lawsuit demonstrates harsh and harmful racism in the workplace. The Studsvik Memphis Processing Facility formally known as Radiological Assistance Consulting and Engineering is being sued by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for discrimination of African American employees. This company is a radioactive waste company and has targeted African Americans for more radiation than whites. Studsvik managers assigned black employees to work in a radioactively hazardous shop area, while placing whites elsewhere. Some of the shop’s most hazardous work, to which African Americans were exclusively assigned, involved using heavy torch to cut apart a damaged and highly radioactive rector disposal. These workers not only were subjected to discrimination that is hazardous to their health, but also had to tolerate being verbally discriminated by their supervisors as well. Many of these African American employees endured the abuse because they needed to work and support their family.
Title: Radioactive Waste Co. Targeted African Americans for More Radiation than Whites
Publication: Nukewatch Quarterly, Spring 2010
Author: John LaForge
URL: www.nukewatch.com/Quarterly/2010spring/cover.pdf
Faculty Evaluator: Daniel Malpica, Sonoma State University
Student Researcher: Brittany Morgan, Sonoma State University