NEW ORLEANS – A 51-year-old African-American woman says she was terminated from her 14-year job with the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners because of alleged derogatory remarks about a co-worker she made to a complete stranger.
Michelle Parker filed a lawsuit Nov. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against the board and its executive director, Dr. Cecilia Mouton, as well as Dr. Mark Henry Dawson, Dr. J. Michael Burdine, Dr. Kenneth B. Farris, Dr. Christy Valentine, Dr. Kweli Amusa, Dr. Roderick Clark and Dr. Joseph Busby, alleging age and racial discrimination.
According to the complaint, on Oct. 6, 2014, Parker was approached on her lunch break by Eric Campbell, whom she did not know, and asked for her opinion about co-worker Lester St. Armant. Campbell later gave a written statement to Armant, detailing Parker’s alleged disparaging remarks, the suit says. Parker denies making the remarks.
After returning from lunch, Mouton suspended Parker, later terminating her while she was still suspended, the suit says. The plaintiff claims the ultimate reason for her firing was the fact that she filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the board, and had refused to sign a letter of reprimand against a co-worker.
Parker seeks a jury trial and damages. She is represented by New Orleans attorneys F. Gerald Maples and Clarence Roby Jr. and attorney Jennifer F. Nicaud of Gulfport, Mississippi.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Case number 2:15-cv-06327