BUFFALO - A federal jury has awarded a damage judgment of $25 million to a western New York steel plant employee who says his bosses failed to stop years of racial taunts and insults from his co-workers.

The jury on Tuesday found Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal and some of its former executives responsible for the treatment Elijah Turley endured at the company’s now-closed Buffalo-area steel plant, according to the Buffalo News.

During the trial, Turley, who is black, testified that “KKK’’ and “King Kong’’ graffiti were written on the walls of the plant and a stuffed monkey with a noose around its neck was found hanging from his driver’s side mirror.

“It’s absolutely shocking that a case like this is in court in 2012,’’ Turley’s lawyer, Ryan J. Mills, told the jury.

Turley testified during the three-week trial that the harassment happened from 2005 to 2008 while he worked operating equipment that removes impurities from metals at the plant in Lackawanna. He said the experience changed his life and left him physically and emotionally damaged.

ArcelorMittal lawyers acknowledged during the trial that Turley’s description of the abuse was largely accurate, but argued that it amounted to common “trash-talking’’ and that executives took steps to stop it, including hiring a private investigator, installing security cameras, and suspending employees involved.

The company indicated it might appeal.