EEOC Sues RJB Properties and Blackstone Consulting for National Origin Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Retaliation

CHICAGO – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against RJB Properties, Inc. and Blackstone Consulting, Inc., charging that the companies discriminated against Hispanic employees because of their national origin, sexually harassed a male employee, and retaliated against employees who objected to the discrimination against Latino employees.

RJB, based in Orland Park, Ill., provides facilities management and janitorial services. RJB’s president is Ronald Blackstone, and his son, Joe Blackstone, is president of Blackstone. Blackstone, based in Los Angeles, provides janitorial and food services. The EEOC’s lawsuit arose out of charges of discrimination filed by 14 employees who worked for RJB as janitors or supervisors. Blackstone is named in the suit because a vice president of Blackstone supervised the employees at RJB and directed or participated in the alleged discrimination against them.

According to the EEOC’s complaint, RJB and Blackstone fired at least six Hispanic employees because of their national origin. They also subjected Latino employees to harassment and different terms  and conditions of employment by subjecting them to derogatory names and comments, forcing them to do more work than non-Latino employees, subjecting them to greater scrutiny and stricter work rules than non-Hispanic employees, and denying them overtime.

The EEOC alleges that a male employee was sexually harassed and that he was fired for refusing to submit to his supervisor’s sexual advances. In addition, the EEOC claims that RJB and Blackstone retaliated against employees who objected to the discrimination, including two African American supervisors who refused to fire Hispanic employees.

The EEOC is seeking relief for the 14 employees who filed discrimination charges, as well as a class of employees who were discriminated against because of their national origin or retaliated against for objecting to such discrimination. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement through its conciliation process.

John Rowe, district director of the EEOC’s Chicago District Office, said the EEOC investigation revealed that RJB and Blackstone fired one supervisor who refused to follow his supervisor’s orders to fire Hispanic employees, and made the working conditions of another supervisor who refused to go along with the discriminatory orders so intolerable that he was forced to resign.