Elevator company vows to discipline workers guilty of racial harassment

• Reprints

Montrelle Reese

Article Extras

Related Stories

• Company accused of racially hostile workplace offers apology
• The ‘blackface’ workplace: ‘I never felt more alone in my life’

Updated: March 11, 2012 8:33AM

The elevator company accused of racial harassment by a former employee will take “disciplinary actions” against supervisors or other workers who acted inappropriately, a corporate official promised Wednesday.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp. President Christian Koenig said the company is launching a “full and complete investigation” into discrimination claims by former salesman Montrelle Reese, who has contended other employees routinely used racial slurs in the office and once performed a black-face routine at a company meeting.

“Inappropriate, discriminatory harassment is not acceptable to us,” Koenig said, after a meeting with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other company officials at a branch office in suburban Lombard.

Company officials earlier this week apologized for a racially hostile environment at the firm’s Westchester office, where Reese worked between 2007 and 2010.

But Koenig insisted the incidents aren’t an indictment of the employees who work for the elevator sales and service business, which plans to relocate its North American headquarters to Chicago.

“This case does not reflect the moral character of our people here,” Koenig said.

He couldn’t offer any specific details about which company officials might have been aware of the discriminatory actions alleged by Reese to have occurred during his tenure or what action might be taken against employees involved in those acts.

Nor could Koenig explain why he and other top company officials only learned last weekend of the allegations through reports in the Sun-Times and other media, rather than through internal reports.

“It is something we will look into fully and thoroughly,” Koenig said.

Reese worked at ThyssenKrupp from November 2007 until he resigned in January 2010 because he could no longer tolerate the hostility.

After reviewing Reese’s allegations, the Illinois Department of Human Rights in November found “substantial evidence of discrimination” against the company.

Jackson said he believes company officials understand they need to make sweeping changes in the corporate culture, but said his Rainbow PUSH Coalition plans to closely monitor the company’s operations — including hiring — to make sure they follow through on their promises.

“My sense is they see the need for profound changes,” Jackson said of company officials.

Reese, 33, said company officials “sound very sincere” in their apologies but said they need to make changes in an organization where he said racism was “part of the culture.”

“They’re going to have to make it right, with me and with the community,” said Reese, who is considering a lawsuit against the business.

Despite the ugly allegations, Jackson said he still wants the company to follow through on its plans to move its regional offices to Chicago.

“I hope the company does come to Chicago,” Jackson said. “We want the jobs, we want the opportunity, we want the dignity.”