Tapes Tie Racial Slurs to Texaco Executives

Texaco executives discussing a discrimination lawsuit against their company were caught on tape using racial epithets against minority employees, the New York Times reported today. The slurs were tossed out during a discussion about destroying documents linked to the 1994 federal lawsuit filed in White Plains, the newspaper reported. The tapes, recorded in August 1994 by former Texaco executive Richard A. Lundwall, and also excerpted in court papers, captured executives calling black workers “black jelly beans” and using a racial slur, the paper said. A Texaco lawyer said the words attributed to the executives were “a clear violation of Texaco policy.”