A Long Beach man contends he was fired because he’s white

A 47-year-old Long Beach man broke down on the stand as he testified at a wrongful termination trial against his former employer, the United Parcel Service (UPS), last week. The man’s bosses previously argued that the reason that he was fired from his dock supervisor role in 2017 was because he used profanity twice within 11 months on the job. The plaintiff himselfcontends that he was let go for being whiteinstead of Hispanic.

The man recounted how he’d come to work for UPS over 12 years ago when he took the stand. He noted that his primary responsibility was to watch over all of the Los Angeles County freight drivers. He noted that many of those UPS employees used profanity. One of them reported him for using curse words in 2017.

It was in one instance that the plaintiff reportedly became frustrated with the quality of work that two of supervisees were performing. One of these individuals was Hispanic. He reportedly used foul language in interacting with him. That employee called the plaintiff a racist and asked if he wanted to go outside to resolve their differences. The plaintiff reported all of this to his bosses.

The plaintiff testified on the stand how on the final day on the job, his supervisors came and got him and escorted him to the exit. When he inquired about the reason for his firing, he was reportedly told that it had to do with the degree of unprofessionalism that he exhibited when supervising his staff.

In court filings, the plaintiff argued that he believes that UPS feared being sued by the Hispanic employee as he had threatened to do on various occasions. He said that he believes that he was fired as a scapegoat to discourage the man from taking any legal action against his employer.

Cases involving racial, national origin, age, gender and other types of discrimination are all too common in workplaces here in California and elsewhere in the United States. Such actions are unlawful under both state and federal laws. An attorney can evaluate any evidence of discrimination that you may have compiled in your case and advise you whether it warrants you filing a lawsuit in your case.