CHARLESTON – A Charleston man who worked as an apprentice for the West Virginia Sheet Metal Worker's Joint Apprenticeship Training Center (JATF) alleges he was discriminated against for being African-American.
Charles Wright filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Local Union No. 33 and the JATF alleging violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
Wright, who became an apprentice with JATF in 2012, alleges that he advanced "more slowly" and was offered fewer jobs than his fellow apprentices who were white. Wright also claims a fellow African-American apprentice discovered a noose hanging from a doorknob at the facility.
Wright alleges the disparate treatment is because he is African-American.
Wright seeks lost wages, a trial by jury and all other just relief. 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-00753