Kansas City Streetcar contractor was Proud Boy, workers endured racial harassment, lawsuit says

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six Black and Hispanic workers on the Kansas City Streetcar extension project have filed a lawsuit against their employers, alleging they faced racial slurs and threatening behavior on job sites, including incidents in which other workers allegedly made menacing comments about nooses and referred to Black people as “monkeys.”

The lawsuit alleges workers of color faced a “culture of race-based hostility and discrimination” on job sites, where attorneys said there were “monthly and sometimes weekly and daily” instances of racial epithets and derogatory statements made by white employees.

Additionally, attorneys for the men allege one of them learned a foreman on the project was a member of the Proud Boys, a white nationalist group.

The lawsuit, which was originally filed in Jackson County Circuit Court and then moved to U.S. District Court in Kansas City Sept. 3, is being brought by Javier Buendia, Jonas Buendia, Oliver Curry, Carl Hunt, Joseph Martin and Charles Watkins.

The lawsuit names contractors on the project, the Herzog Contracting Corporation and the firm Stacey and Witbeck, and their joint venture KC Streetcar Constructors, as well as two local unions, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local No. 101 and the Heavy Construction Laborers Local No. 663, as defendants. Also named as defendants are three individual employees, Bryce Shields, Josh Ayres and Chris Greenwood.

“Plaintiffs worked and felt at the mercy of the terroristic whims of whomever chose to target them with race-based discrimination, harassment, or hostility as well as sexual harassment,” attorneys wrote.

The lawsuit faults the companies and the unions for not correcting the problems on the job sites and not intervening on behalf of the men and is seeking damages over the incidents.

Attorneys for the six men and for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit comes on eve of the KC Streetcar’s long-awaited Main Street extension opening for passenger service on Oct. 24.

Comments about nooses, lynching

The lawsuit describes a series of incidents in recent years in which the men allege they faced threatening behavior at work.

During a conversation in June last year, one employee allegedly made a threatening comment in which he referred to a strap that was on a trailer and said that he would “find a tree to put it in,” before looking pointedly at Curry, who is Black, attorneys wrote, saying the comment evoked imagery associated with lynching.

Attorneys wrote that one foreman was known to refer to Black people as “monkeys” regularly. In one 2023 incident, he reportedly said, “These monkeys I have on my crew ‘bout to drive me crazy,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges that at one point, while Curry had a particular foreman on his crew in 2023, he learned from the supervisor that the other man was a member of the Proud Boys.

That foreman allegedly witnessed an incident in which an employee called Curry the n-word repeatedly and took no immediate action. After Curry complained to a project superintendent, the employee who used the slur was fired, but no action was taken to address the foreman’s lack of action, attorneys wrote.

In another 2023 incident, the same superintendent was allegedly overheard making racial comments including that, “they [Black men] end up in a noose,” the lawsuit said.

In another incident, a supervisor allegedly accused several Black employees of being responsible for break-ins on job sites without evidence. In others, the same supervisor allegedly made a racially offensive remark, accusing Watkins, who is Black, of stealing a watermelon he brought to a worksite, and made an unfounded accusation that he wasn’t working.

In an episode in 2023, a group of white workers allegedly assaulted a Black man who they caught trying to break into a site, the lawsuit said. Two of the men tied the man up, held him to the ground, covered his mouth with duct tape, punched and kicked him and pushed their boot-clad feet into his genitals, the lawsuit said.

“Back where I’m from we lynch people like you,” one of the men said several times, according to the lawsuit. Another employee offered to get his truck in an apparent offer to drag the man behind it, attorneys wrote.

Watkins attempted to step in and stop the assault, which led to a heated exchange between him and his white coworkers, the lawsuit said.

Racial comments and sexual slurs

In 2023, after Jonas Buendia was allegedly groped by Greenwood, a supervisor told him, “Well if you don’t like it then tell him you don’t like it,” the lawsuit said.

Greenwood repeatedly used racial and sexual slurs against the other man, who is Hispanic, and jabbed him between his buttocks with the handle of a shovel in one incident, the lawsuit said.

In one incident, Martin, who is Black, was allegedly “deliberately targeted” and soaked by a high-pressure jet of water from a hose Ayres was using while Martin was operating a piece of heavy equipment. Martin complained to supervisors that he believed he was mistreated based on his race and in retaliation for raising concerns about racial discrimination at work.

In another 2023 incident, Hunt was discussing with Shields how best to dig a deep hole. Shields turned to Hunt and asked him, “Do you want spit or powder?”

Attorneys wrote that Shields repeated the question several times while gesturing and making menacing facial expressions. Hunt interpreted the question as a threat and feared Shields would slap him.

Attorneys wrote the question “evokes imagery consistent with historical practices of lynching and extrajudicial punishment inflicted upon Black Americans, where the victims were often mocked, degraded, and subjected to unspeakable violence under the guise of choice.”

Assurances about change

Between January and November 2023, a foreman made repeated assurances that he would intervene and improve working conditions, but no investigations or disciplinary actions were taken, attorneys for the men wrote.

In early 2023, Watkins approached a Local 663 representative with complaints about the treatment of Black and Hispanic employees and was told that “it was part of the apprentice process and common in construction trades,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. Watkins approached the representative again later in 2023, and his concerns were again dismissed, the lawsuit said.

Attorneys wrote that at one point in 2023, Local 663 launched an investigation but it was dropped a short time later.

Later in 2023, Hunt reported the hostile work environment on the construction sites to a Local 101 representative and was told the matter was between him and the contractors and didn’t involve the union, attorneys wrote.

Management held a meeting in November 2023 to address the issues of harassment, name-calling and other complaints but no disciplinary action was taken to address specific complaints, attorneys for the men wrote. That same month, the contractors implemented a new disciplinary policy and as part of that policy, all previous incidents would be removed from employees’ records, the lawsuit said.

“The change in policy and the associated expungement of the employees’ records indicates an attempt to clear the record of any evidence of racial or sexual harassment on the construction sites,” attorneys wrote. “The attempted cover-up of complaints and disciplinary history is evidence that Constructors knew of the complaints and the hostile work environment and chose not to address it.”