NEW ORLEANS - The Town of Abita Springs wants to fight a civil rights violation accusation in federal court.
The complaint was filed by plaintiff Joseph Dillon on April 19 in the Tammany Parish District Court, and the defendant Abita Spring removed the case to the U.S. District Court for Eastern Louisiana on May 5.
Dillon worked for the town doing park maintenance since 2016. In June of 2017, he informed a superior that he was HIV positive and requested the information be kept private.
In January of 2019, Dillon was promoted to event coordinator and worked closely with the mayor, enjoying several months of pleasant employment.
Later in the year, Dillon experienced a drastic change in attitude from the mayor and learned that the person he had told of his HIV positive status had shared that information with the mayor, the suit says.
As a result, the job environment become so hostile that Dillon felt forced to resign by January 2020, the suit says.
Dillon is representing himself.