A Hollywood company not only tolerated its executives using racial and ethnic slurs, according to a federal lawsuit from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but also ultimately fired the biracial Hispanic employee who complained about such slurs.
The EEOC lawsuit filed in Fort Lauderdale federal court points the finger at Wholesale Building Produts, Colt Truck Care and Trebor USA, three related entities. Trebor makes doors, windows, fittings and accessories. Wholesale sells and distributes building materials. Colt maintains Trebor and Wholesale trucks.
Jocelyn Vinet is the president/CEO of Trebor and Wholesale, a Colt manger, according to state records. Another Colt executive, Seth Denny, is prominently named in the lawsuit. A telephone message left by the Miami Herald at Wholesale Building Products for Denny and Vinet was not returned.
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Working wholesaler
The lawsuit stated that Rafael Pintos “identifies as biracial” and that his people are from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. He trained as a mechanic in the U.S. Army and was a diesel mechanic for four years before being hired by Colt Truck Care in late 2022. According to the lawsuit, the job required only six months of experience and two years of technical skills. education or equivalent experience.
Pintos had interviewed store foreman Adam Blouin, nicknamed “Doug,” and Blouin was said to be Pintos’ supervisor. He was also the one who used racial and ethnic slurs toward Hispanic and black employees, according to the lawsuit. Sometimes the insults were preceded by ‘lazy’, sometimes they were followed by ‘work’.
‘When he was cleaning up from work, Blouin said [Pintos]“You’re taking a Puerto Rican shower!” the lawsuit said. “CTC manager and co-owner Seth Denny heard the comment and laughed about it with Blouin.”
Blouin, the lawsuit said, also referred to Pintos by derogatory names for women and “forced Pintos to do more dangerous and menial work than white employees, such as removing tires with open flames and aerosol cans, as well as cleaning up messes.”
The lawsuit stated that Pintos expressed its dissatisfaction about this treatment to Denny on February 3, 2023, and four days later to Carolina Tamboles, the human resources officer of the three companies.
“During this meeting, Tamboles called Denny, and they both stated that Blouin had a history of this type of behavior toward other employees,” the lawsuit said. “In fact, Blouin had previously received a disciplinary measure for making ‘racist comments’ and using derogatory names.”
After Tamboles interviewed Pintos and Blouin, she gave Blouin a verbal warning.
“After the investigation, Blouin began yelling and threatening Pintos, saying he was a “dead man” and regretting turning him in,” according to the lawsuit, which also said Blouin continued to use an ethnic slur for Hispanics when he referred to Pintos.
Pintos told Tamboles and Denny about this, according to the lawsuit: “However, no additional investigation or corrective action took place. About a week later, on February 18, 2023, (Colt and Wholesale) Vice President Emilie Vinet called Pintos and fired him. Vinet told Mr. Pintos that he was being fired because he did not have the required experience.”
