Panel alleges that truck driver faced ridicule, racial epithets

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is alleging that a delivery driver for a Reno electrical products distributor was ridiculed by co-workers using an N-word epithet and subject to a noose left hanging in the receiving area.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Reno accuses Wedco Inc. of racial discrimination and harassment against the company's only black employee after he began working there in 2007.

Company chief Rich Stoltz didn't immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.

The commission's lawsuit seeks back pay and unspecified monetary damages for the driver, and a court order to prevent discrimination and harassment at the company.