Racial Harassment Lawsuit Settled Involving North Dakota Employee

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Wednesday with Murex Petroleum Corp.

TIOGA, N.D. (AP) _ A Texas-based oil and gas company will pay $50,000 to settle a racial harassment lawsuit involving a black employee in North Dakota.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Wednesday with Murex Petroleum Corp.

According to the lawsuit , Derrick Jenkins worked for Murex from April to September 2014 at its Tioga facility. The EEOC says Jenkins’ co-workers directed racial slurs at him and made racially derogatory comments. It says Jenkins’ supervisor witnessed the harassment, but did nothing about it.

The lawsuit says another African-American employee complained to a high-level executive at the company about the harassment, but no action was taken.

The settlement requires Murex to revise its harassment policy to outline procedures for reporting complaints.

A spokeswoman for Murex Petroleum, based in Houston, was unavailable for comment.