Workplace complaints on hangman nooses

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. government agency said since 2001 more than 30 racial harassment lawsuits have been filed involving hangman's nooses in the workplace.

A symbol of violence against blacks, some of the noose complaints pursued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have resulted in settlements topping $1 million, USA Today reported Friday.

Overall, racial harassment complaints filed with the agency more than doubled in the past 17 years from 3,075 in 1991 to some 7,000 in 2007.

Interest in hangman's noose complaints was sparked by the case of six black teens in Jena, Ala., charged with beating a white teen in 2006 after white students hung nooses from a tree at the local high school.

The latest workplace noose case brought by the EEOC was settled Thursday for $290,000, USA Today reported. That case stemmed from charges that a Mississippi drilling company allowed nooses to be displayed on its rig in the Gulf of Mexico.