Arkansas Nucor Plant Found Guilty of a Racially Hostile Work Environment, Plaintiffs Awarded $1.2 Million
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas has ruled in favor of six plaintiffs in a race discrimination case against Nucor Corp.'s steel plant in Blytheville, Ark.
The rural, twelve-person jury (11 white, 1 black) unanimously determined that the Charlotte, N.C.-based company is guilty of racial hostility against black employees. The jury found Nucor guilty of supervisor racial hostility and co-worker racial hostility at its Blytheville, Arkansas plant based, in part, on the acts of Dan DiMicco, who is currently the CEO of Nucor. DiMicco was the General Manager of the Blytheville plant at the time that many of the racial offenses occurred. The six plaintiffs were each granted $100,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $1.2 Million.
Wiggins Childs, Quinn & Pantazis is the Birmingham, Ala.-based law firm that represents the plaintiffs.
