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WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

West Virginia Sheet Metal Worker's apprentice claims he faced discrimination due to his race

Federal Court
Discrimination 11

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CHARLESTON – A South Charleston man working in the West Virginia Sheet Metal Worker's Joint Apprenticeship Training Center program alleges he faced discrimination because he is African-American. 

Erik Roy filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Local Union No. 33 and the West Virginia Sheet Metal Worker's Joint Apprenticeship Training Center (JATC) alleging violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the West Virginia Human Rights Act. 

Roy began a five-year apprenticeship program with the defendants on Jan. 18, 2016, and alleges during his apprenticeship, he was "advanced more slowly than similarly situated white apprentices" and was offered fewer jobs. Roy also alleges that in June of 2018, he found a noose hanging on a doorknob at the JATC facility. 

In June, the suit states Roy obtained a notice of right to sue from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Roy seeks lost wages and other damages, a trial by jury, interest and all other relief the court deems just and equitable. He is represented by Mark Goldner of Hughes & Goldner PLLC in Charleston. 

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:19-CV-00698

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