Shipyard Supervisor Sued For Allegedly Swinging Nooses At Black Workers

Reports confirmed Monday that a shipyard supervisor from Waggaman, Louisiana, faces three federal lawsuits after allegedly exhibiting bullying actions towards a group of black workers. Edward Collins came under fire for seemingly swinging a noose before a group of black employees that were discussing the removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans.

Collins was terminated from his supervisor role at Archer Daniels Midland earlier this year after cellphone video footage that depicted the apparent incident was unveiled. The former supervisor reportedly has had a long history of tormenting black workers.

"ADM has zero tolerance for hate, racism and discrimination, and does not stand for the kind of behavior alleged in this complaint," an ADM spokesperson said in a statement issued Tuesday to International Business Times. "Consistent with our policies, upon learning of this incident we immediately investigated and promptly took action. As a result, we terminated the employment of the supervisor."

"We promptly had all of our employees in the division undergo ethics and sensitivity training, which was incremental to the annual ethics training all of our employees undergo. The employees in the lawsuit remain employed by ADM and we value their continued service," ADM added.

The lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Each had accused the ADM of allowing Collins to maintain his position for weeks despite the allegations employees made against him. This had reportedly continued after more than a dozen African-American workers signed a petition that requested for ADM to investigate Collins' alleged misconduct.

Collins is seen in video footage obtained by the New Orleans Advocate holding and tightening a noose as he asked whether a black worker wanted to "hang this from your rearview mirror." Collins did this all while seemingly smiling and laughing at his suggestion.

ADM isn't the only employer to face scrutiny over a worker's racist comments. Elon Musk's Telsa came under fire in November after a class-action lawsuit alleged that he told black employees to be "thick-skinned" and "accept" colleagues' apologies for racial harassment, according to Bloomberg. An Indiana nurse, in another incident, was terminated from Indiana University Health in November after making racially charged remarks on Twitter.