A former railroad conductor has filed a lawsuit stating he had to endure a racially hostile work environment. In November of 2010 the former railroad conductor was attacked with a knife by four of his co-workers. The offenders used racial slurs, grabbed the victim and cut his dread locks passing them around, prancing and dancing around and yelling out insults at him.
The victim immediately reported the incident to his supervisors and the railway police and filed a report. However, the authorities did not follow-up on the complaint and matters proceeded to get worse. The former employee received a death threat and a dead rat on his home’s doorstep.
The victim was told by company management that his co-workers were horsing around and was advised to move on and just get over the incident. Since no action was taken by his superiors, the former employee took matters into his own hands and filed a legal action against Illinois Central Railroad.
An Illinois Central representative stated the company responded immediately on the day of the incident and conducted a full inquiry and took appropriate disciplinary action against the employees involved.