Lawsuit alleging racial discrimination removed to federal court

A recycling company accused of racial discrimination and wrongful termination has removed its former employee’s lawsuit to federal court.

According to the Nov. 17 complaint, Steven L. Jones, an African American, claims he did not receive the same treatment at work as his Hispanic counterparts at Pallet Logistics Management. He alleges that after he brought the matter up with his supervisors, he was fired for not repairing broken pallets. However, he claims the broken pallets were put in his assigned stack of pallets by a Hispanic co-worker.

Defendant U.S.A. Recycling filed a notice of removal to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on Dec. 31 through attorneys James G. Nowogrocki and Richard D. Worth of Weiss Attorneys at Law in St. Louis.

Jones seeks more than $50,000 in damages, plus costs.

Edward J. Szewczyk of Callis, Papa and Szewczyk in Granite City represents Jones.

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 14-L-757