Restaurant manager sues boss for workplace discrimination

A local man brought a lawsuit against an Orleans Parish business for alleged employment discrimination in 2014.

Joseph Trotta filed a lawsuit against Cajun Conti LLC, doing business as Old New Orleans Cookery and Oceana Grill on April 14 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana, citing civil rights infringement in a June 2014 job-related matter.

Trotta was hired by the defendant in February 2012 as a restaurant house manager. According to the suit, he brought a work-related incident involving a minority coworker to a supervisor’s attention in June 2014. The complaint states that Trotta’s supervisor responded with racial epithets and pressured the plaintiff to fire the worker.

The coworker, Arthur Alexander, overheard the conversation and filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with Trotta’s support, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff claims that he was terminated on Aug. 3, 2014, by his supervisor, who alleged the reason was an EEOC sexual harassment complaint against him; however, there was no documentation of such a grievance being filed.

Trotta filed his own EEOC charge and was issued a right to sue on Jan. 14, 2015. He cites damages including front pay and back wages; and seeks compensatory and putative damages, reinstatement, attorney’s fees, expenses and costs.

The plaintiff represents himself.

U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana case no. 2:15-cv-01186-SSV-JCW.