A federal court jury in Jonesboro has ruled in favor of six black employees of Nucor Corp. in a race discrimination case that included evidence of lynching re-enactments and portrayals of black employees as monkeys.

On Thursday, 11 white and one black juror unanimously found the Charlotte, N.C., company guilty of supervisor racial hostility and co-worker racial hostility at its Blytheville steel plant based, in part, on the acts of Dan DiMicco, who is now the CEO of Nucor. DiMicco was the general manager of the Blytheville plant at the time that many of the racial offenses occurred.

The six plaintiffs were each granted $100,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $1.2 million. Wiggins Childs Quinn & Pantazis, a Birmingham, Ala., law firm that represented the plaintiffs.

"Given what the six Arkansas plaintiffs had to endure since their suit was filed in 2003 - not to mention the indignities they suffered which led to the case in the first place - any one of them will tell you this victory is about a lot more than money," says Robert L. Wiggins Jr., lead attorney.

"In the bigger picture, it's about getting Nucor to treat its black employees with the same decency and respect as they give other employees," Wiggins said.

Racial acts presented as evidence included lynching re-enactments, racial slurs broadcasted over the plant's radio system, portrayals of black employees as monkeys and a variety of other racial insults directed at African-American employees. Nucor also sold, in its company store, items bearing Confederate flags and the Nucor logo.
(Wire Services Nov 3, 2009)