BATON ROUGE – A former employee is suing a Louisiana-based food processing company for racial discrimination, claiming the company fired him for reporting racist incidents.
Plaintiff Derek Henderson filed the federal complaint November 8 against DG Foods, citing allegations of discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law.
Henderson, a Black male, says he was employed as a Quality Assurance Supervisor and worked for DG Foods from July 2020 to September 13, 2021. Henderson claims he witnessed a racially charged incident involving a colleague and a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector who frequently visited the worksite and reported it to Human Resources, but the defendant took no action against the inspector.
Henderson also says he regularly faced racial harassment and threats of physical violence from coworkers and even his supervisors. He also claims he was denied a promotion in favor of a less-qualified white candidate.
On May 6, 2021, Henderson says the USDA inspector grabbed his arm aggressively, and he filed a police report against her. After his report, he says he became a target for retaliatory treatment and faced increased work scrutiny and additional tasks. In August 2021, he says he had to take a three-week leave of absence.
When he returned to work, he says he was informed by management that he was being terminated for a company violation. He claims the purported violation was actually a pretext for the company to discriminate against him and fire him in retaliation.
Henderson is seeking damages for emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, lost pay and benefits as well interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief. Additionally, he asks the court to order the defendant to require training regarding race-based discrimination and retaliation.
He is being represented by Philip Bohrer of Bohrer Brady in Baton Rouge and by Jay D. Ellwanger of Ellwanger Henderson in Austin, Texas.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division case number 3:23-cv-01602