A journeyman laborer who worked on Microsoft’s major Redmond, Wash., campus modernization project is suing the tech company as well as contractors Skanska and Balfour Beatty Construction over alleged racial discrimination he says took place on the job.
Quinte Harris was hired to work on the project through a Skanska-Balfour Beatty joint venture starting in the spring of 2021, according to a complaint filed on April 25 in Western Washington U.S. District Court. Within a month of joining the job, Harris, who is African-American, “became aware of racial discrimination and hostility from certain white construction operatives.”
The first incident involved another worker who, without invitation, approached Harris and said that he did not like the Black Lives Matter movement, or Black people in general, especially if they were from the South, the complaint states. The worker added that he was not the only white man on the job who felt that way and that Harris or any other African-American worker who complained about racial discrimination would find their employment in jeopardy.
Harris was “horrified and angered,” and also puzzled because he had not been discussing Black Lives Matter or anything related to racial politics. The “confrontation was based solely on Mr. Harris’s skin color and was intended solely to make Mr. Harris feel threatened, off-kilter, and unwelcomed,” his complaint states.
The court issued summonses to the three companies on June 22 ordering them to respond within 21 days. A spokesperson for the Skanska-Balfour Beatty joint venture said in a statement that it is aware of the lawsuit, but it does “not believe there is any factual basis for the claims.”
Meanwhile, work continues on Microsoft’s 72-acre campus modernization. The project includes the demolition of 12 buildings, construction of 18 buildings totaling 2.5 million sq ft, and renovation of another 6.7 million sq ft, plus the construction of a 2-acre plaza. Microsoft expects to begin taking occupancy of the new buildings late this year or in early 2023.