Federal authorities sued ExxonMobil Corp. March 2 after the company failed to take effective preventive actions when several hangman’s nooses were discovered at its Baton Rouge, La., facility, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced.

In January 2020, a Black employee at the chemical plant found a noose at his worksite, according to the EEOC’s lawsuit. ExxonMobile was already aware of three other nooses at the same facility when the employee filed an incident report. A fifth noose was reported at the complex in December 2020.

The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobile only investigated some of the prior incidents and failed to take actions to end the racial harassment of its employees – enabling a racially hostile work environment to exist at the facility.

“A noose is a longstanding symbol of violence associated with the lynching of African Americans. Such symbols are inherently threatening and significantly alter the workplace environment for Black Americans,” Elizabeth Owen, an EEOC senior trial attorney, said.

ExxonMobil’s actions and omissions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the lawsuit. EEOC filed its case against the corporation after first trying to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

“When employers become aware of racially offensive or threatening conduct in the workplace, they have a legal obligation to take prompt, remedial action aimed at stopping it,” Rudy Sustaita, EEOC’s regional attorney in Houston, Texas, said.

ExxonMobile rejected the EEOC’s allegations, saying that it “encourage(s) employees to report claims like this, and we thoroughly investigated,” company spokesman Todd Spitler said in a March 5 statement, according to The Associated Press.

“The symbols of hate are unacceptable, offensive, and in violation of our corporate policies,” Spitler said. “We have a zero tolerance policy of any form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace by or towards employees, contractors, suppliers or customers.”