Broward company fired Hispanic man who reported racist behavior of his boss: lawsuit

A Hollywood company not only tolerated its supervisors’ use of racial and ethnic slurs, a federal lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said, but also ultimately fired the biracial Hispanic employee who complained about such slurs.

The EEOC lawsuit, filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, targets Wholesale Building Produts, Colt Truck Care and Trebor USA, three related companies. Trebor produces doors, windows, fittings and accessories. The wholesaler sells and distributes building materials. Colt services Trebor and Wholesale trucks.

State records list Jocelyn Vinet as president/CEO of Trebor and Wholesale, a manager of Colt. Another Colt executive, Seth Denny, is featured prominently in the lawsuit. A telephone message left by the Miami Herald with Wholesale Building Products for Denny and Vinet was not returned.

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The lawsuit says Rafael Pintos “identifies as biracial” and that his people come from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. He had trained as a mechanic during his time in the U.S. Army and had been a diesel mechanic for four years before being hired by Colt Truck Care in late 2022. The job, the lawsuit says, required only six months of experience and two years of technical training or equivalent experience.

Pintos had interviewed foreman Adam Blouin, nicknamed “Doug,” and Blouin would be Pintos’ supervisor. He was also the one who insulted Hispanic and black employees with racial and ethnic slurs, the lawsuit said. Sometimes the insults were preceded by “lazy,” sometimes followed by “work.”

As he was cleaning up from work, Blouin said [Pintos]“You’re taking a Puerto Rican shower!” the lawsuit says. “CTC manager and co-owner Seth Denny overheard the comment and laughed about it with Blouin.”

Blouin, the lawsuit says, also referred to Pintos with derogatory names for women and “forced Pintos to perform more dangerous and menial work than white employees, such as removing tires with open flames and aerosols and also cleaning up.” of disorder.”

The lawsuit says Pintos expressed his displeasure with this treatment to Denny on February 3, 2023, and four days later to Carolina Tamboles, the human resources officer for the three companies.

“During that meeting, Tamboles called Denny over and both said that Blouin had engaged in such behavior toward other employees in the past,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, Blouin had previously received disciplinary action for making “racist comments” and using derogatory names.”

After Tamboles interviewed Pintos and Blouin, she gave Blouin a verbal warning.

“After the investigation, Blouin yelled and threatened Pintos, saying he was a ‘dead man’ and would regret turning him in,” says the lawsuit, which also says Blouin continued to use an ethnic slur used for Hispanics when referring to Pintos.

Pintos told Tamboles and Denny this. The lawsuit said, “However, no further investigation or corrective action took place.” Approximately a week later, on February 18, 2023, Emilie Vinet, vice president of Colt and Wholesale, called Pintos and fired him. Vinet informed Mr Pintos that he was dismissed because he lacked the required experience.”