Lee County is facing a federal discrimination lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of three Hispanic workers. The workplace discrimination lawsuit is based upon claims of race discrimination and national origin discrimination in the workplace. An investigation launched several years ago to look into the allegations resulted in a 2009 report that stated that the discriminatory practices would support a claim for "hostile work environment" under the Civil Rights Act.

Nine employees were terminated in 2009 as a result of the probe, although one of the workers has reportedly been reinstated. The 2009 report says that several of the fired workers had banded together and called their group the "Ku Klux Klan without hats." Three Hispanic employees were reportedly subjected to discrimination in the workplace for roughly two years, leading to the probe of the hostile workplace.

The newly filed discrimination lawsuit says that three workers were subjected to repeated racial and ethnic slurs while on the job. Co-workers mocked the Hispanic workers accents, refused to perform work that one of the Hispanic workers assigned to the co-workers and the harassers made false allegations about at least two of the Hispanic employees, seeking to have the victims of abuse fired, according to the lawsuit.

The victims of the harassment reportedly complained more than once to supervisors about the hostile workplace, including the racial and ethnic slurs. Before the probe in 2009 was launched, nothing was effectively done to stop the harassment, according to the suit. Supervisors did hold a meeting at some point prior to the 2009 investigation to remind workers of the county's harassment policy. However, that meeting only resulted in intensified harassment in the workplace, according to the lawsuit.

The ethnic and racial discrimination lawsuit was filed Monday, seeking monetary damages and other relief. An assistant attorney general for the Justice Department says that, "No one should have to endure harassment because of his or her race or national origin in the workplace."

Source: The News-Press, "Feds file discrimination lawsuit against Lee County," Mary Wozniak, Feb. 6, 2012