Lawsuit filed over noose incident, ‘racially-hostile’ environment at Boeing’s N. Charleston plant

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A federal lawsuit filed Friday details an incident involving a noose found by a Boeing employee as well as other abuse the worker says he suffered at the hands of fellow employees.

Curtis Anthony, who has worked at Boeing’s North Charleston plant since 2011, filed the lawsuit claiming he was forced to work in a racially-hostile environment that Boeing allowed.

A noose was reportedly found at the plant back in March. Anthony claims the noose was hung over his desk. The suit also alleges co-workers urinated on his desk and chair and used the N-word in his presence.

Anthony’s lawyers says he told his supervisors about what was happening but the harassment continued.

“He reported it to management all to no avail," attorney Donald Gist said. "As a result Mr. Anthony was very persistent in highlighting that he was subjected to racially hostile work environment. Boeing did little or anything in terms of investigating this.”

The lawsuit claims the stress of the harassment got so bad, Anthony had to take a medical leave so he could get counseling. He also says he started drinking again.

A Boeing South Carolina spokesperson denied the claims in a statement:

“The Boeing Company has been named in a lawsuit filed by Curtis Anthony, a current teammate working in Boeing South Carolina Aftbody building. Anthony is alleging race discrimination, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violations of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), breach of contract and breach of contract with fraudulent intent.

"While Mr. Anthony is a valued Boeing South Carolina teammate, there is no validity to his allegations. In fact, Mr. Anthony’s requests for FMLA leave have been consistently and repeatedly approved by the company in an expeditious manner.

"Moreover, most of Mr. Anthony’s allegations were never brought to the attention of management, giving the company no opportunity to investigate these claims. The single issue he did raise was dealt with promptly and in a fair manner.”

Boeing says it did fire the employee who they found to be responsible for the noose.

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