NEW ORLEANS – An office manager for a New Orleans school alleges she was terminated in retaliation for complaining about racial discrimination.
Jalita Smith filed a complaint on Oct. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against KIPP New Orleans Inc. and Sarah Beth Greenberg alleging that they violated the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff is Asian and was hired as a business office manager for the KIPP Believe Primary School in January. The plaintiff alleges that on Aug. 11, she was terminated from her employment, causing her to suffer lost wages and employment benefits, emotional distress, humiliation and inconvenience.
The plaintiff holds Kipp New Orleans and Greenberg responsible because the defendants allegedly subjected her to hostile work environment, adverse employment actions, retaliatory treatment and termination after she complained about defendants' racist attitudes toward her black subordinates and interfered with her effort to obtain future employment.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensation in an amount reasonable in the premises, plus legal interest, all costs of these proceedings, attorney’s fees, punitive damages and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court. She is represented by James L. Arruebarrena of James L. Arruebarrena LLC in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:16-cv-15162