EEOC Tag Archives — Sexual Harassment Lawyer Blawg

When a Costco Wholesale employee in Newport News, Virginia filed an EEOC charge alleging mockery of his Arabic accent, derogatory comments and gestures making fun of his “smell,” his coworker spraying Lysol at him, and other racial harassment, COSTCO asked him to sign a company “Confidentiality” form as part of its investigation—but the National Labor Relations Board, or “NLRB,” has already decided COSTCO’s form violates federal law.

On May 9, 2025, the Store Manager at the Newport News location approached “Jay,” the employee who filed the charge. He presented Jay with a form called “Acknowledgement of Confidentiality for Investigations.” The Manager read the form out loud and asked Jay to sign it. Among other things, it included this language:

I have not recorded any part of this interview and I acknowledge that electronic recordings of any conversation without the consent of all parties is considered a violation of company policy and may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Marcus Staples worked for Advanced Technology Recycling, an electronics de-manufacturing company headquartered in Pontiac, Illinois, with seven locations across the country. In Staples’ Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, he alleges that whenever the company’s project manager was on site, he referred to Staples and Staples’ African-American coworkers as “boy”—while referring to white co-coworkers by their given names. One of Staples’ coworkers has stated under oath that he “was so upset” by the manager’s “offensive racism, I frequently complained to [our supervisor] about it myself. During 2019, I complained to [her] about [the] behavior on approximately a weekly basis, either on my own or with co-workers. She said she would take care of it, but nothing changed to remedy the situation.”

The conduct escalated: Staples alleges that the manager derisively compared him to a monkey, and when Staples was offended and upset, the next day the manager handed him a baggie of fried chicken in front of multiple coworkers as a mocking “apology.”

Staples alleges in his Complaint, and multiple co-workers confirm under oath, that when the manager returned to the worksite after these incidents, he resumed calling Staples and his African-American coworkers “boy” — the same as before. Staples alleges that the company went on to retaliate against him for filing an EEOC charge, baselessly disciplining him. When he refused to work through the EEOC to try to settle the charge [which indicated that Staples planned to sue], Staples alleges ATR fired him.

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COSTCO Asks Employee to Sign a “Confidentiality” Form that the National Labor Relations Board Already Decided Violates the Law

A Virginia man alleges that his coworker called him “boy” numerous times and compared him to a monkey–and then handed him a bag of fried chicken as an “apology.”