Another former Peoples Gas worker alleges racial discrimination at utility company

CHICAGO - Darryl Price initially thought he landed one of the best jobs when he became a utility worker for Peoples Gas. But as the years went on, he faced discipline that he believes was given out more harshly to him because of his race. The stress and harassment eventually led to him resigning in January.

Now, the 61-year-old is part of a growing group of current and former Black Peoples Gas workers who are speaking out about the alleged treatment they say they faced while employed at the utility company. In November, nearly a dozen former and current Peoples Gas employees filed a lawsuit alleging the company racially discriminated against its Black employees.

Price, of South Shore, also filed a separate federal lawsuit against Peoples Gas in January.

In the pending lawsuit, Price alleges he and other Black workers were denied the opportunity to transfer to other departments and missed out on overtime opportunities. He also alleges that harassment increased when he filed a racial and age discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In a statement, Peoples Gas said they "strongly deny these claims, and have done so in court ever since the lawsuit was filed in January 2023 by a former employee. We will continue to defend this matter vigorously."

Price said that at 61, he no longer has to worry about supporting children — just his wife and himself. But he felt compelled to speak out because he doesn’t see how other Black workers who are younger would have a future at the company.

"These young kids that I saw over there [who] are the first generation of gas men that face regression," he said. "That if they fail the gas man test, they go back to day one seniority. That’s horrible; something should be done about that."

Price started working for the company in November 2016 as a utility worker after completing a job training program. He remembers hearing at least two of his co-workers use racial slurs but at the time he tried not to dwell on it.

"I didn’t pay those guys much attention," he said. "There was a blessing that we were making that type of money. Peoples Gas pays very, very well. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would work there. That was really something special for me."

But for Price, the environment at Peoples Gas started to change when he was accused of not showing up for work.

"All of a sudden, the entire climate just changed," Price said.

He said he felt like the workplace became hostile. After submitting his racial discrimination complaint with the federal agency in April 2022, he said the harassment increased.

At one point, he was suspended for 10 days because he was accused of causing damage to a dump site, but Price said others were not disciplined for making similar mistakes, according to the lawsuit. He was also handed another 10-day suspension for not reporting a work-related injury in time, but he contends he followed the protocols for reporting injuries.

Cynthia Price, his wife, said she noticed the toll the job was having on him. He wouldn’t have an appetite during their meals together, and his mental and physical health suffered, she said.

"It caused so much duress in his body when he was going to the doctor a lot," she said. "It got to the point where it was stressing him out, where he thought he needed to leave the job. It was beginning to bother the mentality in the home — there was a time we were arguing because of the duress. We’ve been married for five years, and we never had that."

Darryl Price said he felt his only option was to quit his job before he became a journeyman, a position that would have meant higher pay.

"All of this stupid stuff that occurred over there; I want these guys to have to pay for all of that," he said.