BECKLEY – Four Black men have filed federal lawsuits accusing a Texas-based pipeline construction company of racial harassment and discrimination.
Jonathan Jones, Robert Walker, Ronald T. Greer and DeMarcus Jefferies filed their complaints November 16 in U.S. District Court in Beckley against Price Gregory International LLC, which is based in Katy, Texas, but does business in southern West Virginia.
According to the complaints, the four men were hired as environmentalists by Price Gregory in September 2021 and worked on pipelines in southern West Virginia.
Salango
During their employment, the men say they were subjected to a hostile work environment that included a noose being hung from a tree at a job site, the N-word being frequently used by workers and supervisors, a supervisor driving a vehicle to a job site with a license plate that had a rebel flag and the word “redneck” on it and being referred to as the N-word and as “colored boys.”
The men say they complained of these issues to supervisors. In November and December of 2021, they all say they were terminated. Price Gregory claimed they were laid off for seasonal reasons, but none of them were called back to work in the spring or summer of 2022. They say the company called back and hired numerous white employees in 2022 to work in the southern West Virginia area.
The men accuse the defendant of violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act for creating and allowing a hostile work environment and for racial discrimination. They say the suffered indignity, embarrassment, and humiliation.
They seek compensatory damages for lost wages and benefits, back pay and front pay as well as punitive damage, pre- and post-judgment interests, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
The men are being represented by Mark A. Atkinson of Atkinson & Polak in Charleston and by Ben Salango and Patrick Salango of Salango Law in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case numbers 5:22-cv-00521 through 5:22-cv-00524