An African American worker of steel giant ArcelorMittal,who was called a "monkey" and subjected to racial slurs by co-workers,was awarded a whopping USD 25 million in damages by a US court that held the company responsible for allowing a "hostile environment" to persist. Elijah Turley told a court that he found a stuffed monkey with a noose around its neck hanging from his driver's side mirror,and the "KKK" and "King Kong" graffiti on the walls of the Lackawanna steel plant where he worked. The Buffalo court found the Luxembourg-based corporation liable for all but a small percentage of the USD 25 million award,Buffalo News reported. The federal court jury said his former employers and their executives were liable for a culture of racial discrimination that one of his lawyers said was reminiscent of the 1950s. Turley,who worked at the plant for 14 years,told the court during a three-week trial about a series of incidents at the former ArcelorMittal Steel plant in Lackawanna,that shut down in 2009. He recalled how he was subjected to racial slurs by co-workers and testified that the incidents from 2005 to 2008 left him a "physical and emotional wreck". He said his stay at the plant changed his life forever. "It's absolutely shocking that a case like this is in court in 2012," Ryan J Mills,Turley's lawyer,said in his closing argument. "It should be viewed as atrocious and intolerable in a civilised society," he said. Turley worked as a processor operator in the plant's pickler department. "This case is about the breakdown of a man," Mills told the jury. "He wanted to be treated equally,treated equally in a culture that hadn't changed since the '50s." The jury found ArcelorMittal and some of its former executives responsible. Lawyers for ArcelorMittal acknowledged during the trial that many of the incidents happened but argued that the company and its executives were caught in the middle,the paper said. They said they did not actively participate in the conduct,and actually took "reasonable steps" to stop what was going on. The plaintiff as well as others testified about the harassment and instances when he was called "monkey" or "boy." Some friends told the court how their once-vibrant,engaging co-worker had turned quiet and somber and was even found crying.
