A man who worked for UPS in Los Angeles was fired, and he says that he was discriminated against and wrongfully terminated. He claims that racism was the root of the issue.
The man had been with UPS for a dozen years. At one point, the drivers that he supervised experienced a staffing shortage, so he had to pass out more work to the drivers who were left. The man claims that a Hispanic worker “became insubordinate and at times refused to perform his duties” when asked to do more work than usual.
After this, that Hispanic worker alleged that the supervisor, who is white, had a racial bias against him and discriminated against him as a result. He also claims that the man physically assaulted him.
In 2017, after these allegations were made, the white supervisor was fired from the company.
That man now claims in his lawsuit that the company knew the allegations were untrue, but that they fired him anyway to “appease [the driver] and other Hispanic employees.” He has said that he was turned into a “sacrificial victim” even though he did nothing wrong.
He also claims that the company used his swearing on the job as grounds for firing him, but he contends that other employees did the same thing and never got fired. As such, he says that he was subjected to racism himself and wrongfully terminated at least in part because he was white.
This case really shows how complex these situations can become. It is very important for workers to know all of their legal rights.