Two North Shore-LIJ Hospital orderlies claim they were terrorized with nooses and racial slurs.

Elijah Crawford and a fellow African-American orderly at North Shore-LIJ have filed a discrimination lawsuit against the hospital and two of its employees.

Crawford says a surgical technician hung a noose in the locker room with the help of a doctor in his department. He says the noose was part of a pattern of racial slurs and derogatory comments.

Hospital officials say they can't comment on pending litigation but say they conducted a thorough investigation at the time and claim the issue was resolved to the apparent satisfaction of the plaintiffs.

In a statement, the hospital says the two plaintiffs "did not mention many of the allegations that they now make in the lawsuit when the hospital interviewed them a year ago."

But Crawford says he still works with both men almost every day and claims the hospital never handled the situation properly.

A spokesperson for the hospital says investigators did not report the incident to police because they determined that it did not rise to the level of a criminal act based on interviews conducted.