Two Jefferson County men and an Orange County man are suing over claims they were racially discriminated against by their employer.
Melvin J. Bobino Jr., Royce Bobino and Stacy Washington filed a lawsuit March 11 in the Jefferson County District Court against Integrated Process Resources Inc., doing business as Environmental Monitoring Service, citing unlawful termination and retaliation.
According to the complaint, the three plaintiffs were employed as technicians by IPR when the company began requiring employees to take a benzene test. The plaintiffs claim they attempted to procure benzene tests, but were told there were none available. They were terminated on April 22.
According to the lawsuit, two Caucasian employees who failed to take a benzene test allegedly were allowed to take them at another location, but the three plaintiffs, who are African American, were not given that option and terminated.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages, back pay and reinstatement.
They are being represented in the case by attorneys Kenneth W. Lewis and Stephen L. Townsend of Bush Lewis PLLC in Beaumont.
Jefferson County District Court Case No. A195-483
This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Jefferson County District Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.