Last week, “The New Orleans Agena” included this story:

BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com – – A Silicon Valley manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment has agreed to pay $168,000 to settle a racial harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.

The EEOC had alleged that Novellus Systems, Inc., subjected an African American worker to racial harassment.

The lawsuit alleged that a male employee had to listen on a regular basis to a 27-year-old co-worker playing and rapping aloud to music lyrics that included racial epithets such as the “N-word.”

Although the employee complained several times to his supervisors, the co-worker continued to use slang involving racial slurs and to sing along to these kinds of lyrics within earshot, the EEOC alleged.

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that the company delayed effective corrective action by more than half a year, and that delay constituted unlawful harassment. The agency also alleged that the employee who complained was fired in retaliation for his earlier complaints.

While Novellus denied liability and admitted no wrongdoing, it agreed to incorporate a “Statement of Zero-Tolerance Policy and Equality Objectives” in its Equal Employment Opportunity and Harassment Policy. In addition, Novellus agreed to amend its harassment policy to refer specifically to harassment through the playing of music, and to include offensive musical lyrics in its examples of racial harassment.

“The EEOC is not in the business of judging anyone’s musical tastes, but we are concerned when we find that an employer failed to respond promptly after being put on notice of racially offensive language or conduct in the workplace,” said EEOC Regional Attorney William R. Tamayo. “We commend the company for resolving this action and for agreeing to modify its anti-discrimination policies to include a specific prohibition of the playing of music lyrics that contain racially derogatory terms.”

It’s hard to imagine it took an EEOC decision to address that problem, but there’s nothing common about common sense.