MI-08: Slotkin opponent's family business paid workers $100K over racial slurs
The old family maintenance business of 8th Congressional candidate Paul Junge paid out $100,000 to three former workers who claimed they were insulted with numerous racial slurs at the workplace and were fired when they complained about it, according to court records.
The revelation comes as Junge has made one of his calling cards during the campaign how his family business created “hundreds of jobs.”
Junge was the business development and division manager at All Star Maintenance in San Diego, Calif., his father’s business from 1995-2000, and is not mentioned directly in the suit involving three former employees, Warren McCowan, Johnny Luna and Steve Guerrero.
The suit in U.S. District Court in New Mexico was concluded in 2002 after Junge had left the business to pursue a career in TV journalism. However, back in 1998, All Star Maintenance was hired to paint residences at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
McCowan, Luna and Guerrero, all of Hispanic heritage but who lived in New Mexico, claimed they were fired for complaining about the discrimination they endured while working in the hostile environment.
They claimed they were “repeatedly” referred to by one All Star Maintenance carpenter as “sp*cs,” “stupid fucking Mexicans,” “burrito eating mother fuckers,” and “south-of-the-border friends.” Another All Star employee on the job site referred to an African American colleague as a “stupid (n-word).” Others testified that they, too, heard the offensive language.
Although the All Star employee handbook from 1996 calls for a racial harassment-free workplace, the field manager conceded in court that he didn’t do enough to spot the offensive comments. Instead, when McCowan, Luna and Guerrero complained, he fired them, according to court records.
https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/slotkin-opponents-family-business-paid-workers-100k-over-racial-slurs,14920
