WHEELING – A man is suing McKeen Security Inc. after he claims he was wrongfully discharged from his employment.
David McKeen, the president of McKeen Security, was also named as a defendant in the suit.
Levan M. Parks is African-American and worked as a security guard with McKeen Security for approximately seven years working primarily at East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, according to a complaint filed Jan. 2o in Ohio Circuit Court and removed to federal court on Feb. 12.
Parks claims at all times during his employment, McKeen Security knew that he does not drive and only can work when and where he can get to work by bus or other reliable transportation.
On July 13, 2012, the plaintiff, who was shift supervisor, called for backup and raised his voice in anger when his co-workers did not respond appropriately, according to the suit.
Parks claims without asking for his side of the story, McKeen Security suspended him pending an investigation of the incident and determined he should no longer work at East Ohio and was transferred to a location where he could not get bus service.
Mike Stauver, the director of operations at McKeen Security, was the one who transferred Parks and had previously been openly hostile toward him, according to the suit.
Parks claims upon advising that he could not go to the new assignment because of lack of transportation, he was discharged from his employment.
The defendants could have waited to assigned Parks to a new opening in the Wheeling area along a bus route when it arose, according to the suit.
Parks claims he applied repeatedly to the defendant for a new assignment when openings were advertised, but the defendant never answered.
The plaintiff has only been able to obtain part-time work in his area at a lower wage since his discharge, according to the suit.
Parks claims the defendants' acts and omissions violate state and federal law prohibiting discrimination based upon an employee's race.
Parks is seeking compensatory damages. He is representing himself.
The case is assigned to District Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 5:15-cv-00019