Disturbing display found at Cleveland construction site

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A human figure card board cut-out was found at a construction site on Prospect Avenue and East 8th Street.

The cut-out was hanging from a noose, something that could be perceived as racist.

The construction project is under the umbrella of Cleveland Construction.

The company’s Equal Employment Opportunity Officer says none of their workers created the display.

They say it was an employee from a sub-contractor they hired to work at the site.

After the initial investigation, Cleveland Construction management says it did not appear the incident was racially motivated. However, they requested the worker to never return to their project site.

Cleveland Construction released a statement to 19 News:

“Cleveland Construction is proud of our diverse workforce on our project sites. We have strong policies against any forms of racial discrimination or harassment, and we have a zero-tolerance policy against any such activity on our projects. We regularly educate everyone working on our projects about these policies through toolbox talks and other training efforts.

We recently received information regarding an alleged incident involving an employee of another company working on one of our project sites. The individual involved is not an employee of Cleveland Construction. Consistent with our zero-tolerance policy, as soon as we became aware of these allegations, we requested that the individual’s employer immediately remove the individual from the project site while we conducted a thorough investigation. We understand that actions that could be perceived as discriminatory or harassing are still unacceptable, regardless of intent. Therefore, although it does not appear, based on our initial investigation, that the alleged incident was motivated by any racial animus, we nevertheless requested that the individual involved not return to our project site. Furthermore, we immediately held a site-wide stand-down with everyone on project site to reiterate and reinforce our zero-tolerance policy against any forms of racial discrimination or harassment, regardless of intent. We remain committed to maintaining a diverse and harmonious workforce on our projects that is free of any forms of actual or perceived discrimination or harassment.”

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