By Yolanda Woodlee and Daniel LeDuc
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 25, 2008

D.C. officials overseeing the construction of the Washington Nationals ballpark said yesterday that a noose had been found in a break room for construction crews and that a worker had been fired.

The worker had been employed by Truland Systems, an electrical subcontractor. The noose was found Tuesday and reported to officials a day later.

Officials from the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which owns the ballpark, investigated. Yesterday, they met with executives from Truland and Clark/Hunt/Smoot, the joint venture building the ballpark.

That meeting resulted in the firing of the Truland employee. John Jordan, a Truland spokesman, said another employee would be fired this morning. "We are deeply appalled by this incident and instituted an investigation," he said.

Neither he nor sports commission officials would identify the fired worker.

"This type of conduct, whether intended as a joke or not, will not be tolerated. These actions take away from the otherwise positive and productive environment that exists at the project site," said Gregory A. O'Dell, the sports commission's chief executive.

The incident came less than two months after five African American electricians said they had been fired after a Truland worker made what they believed were racially derogatory remarks about them.

The electricians worked for City General, a subcontractor for Truland. They filed a formal complaint with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26.

The electricians' attorney said that a Truland foreman complained that they did not work fast enough and said that "a monkey" could do their jobs. "It's my understanding that a white foreman had a noose at the job site," the attorney, Jeff Spalding, said.

Courtland Cox, a sports commission official working on labor issues at the ballpark, said the Truland employee who had the noose this week was on his first day at the stadium. Cox said he did not believe that the incident this week and the earlier one were related.

"At first glance, I don't see a connection," Cox said. "But if our investigation shows something there, actions will be taken."