Seven employees sue Beaumont company for age, race and nationality discrimination

Seven workers have filed a lawsuit against a Beaumont company for allegedly terminating the men due to their age, race and national origin.

Jaime Abante, Kenneth Hodges, Cornelio Oruga, Josue Padrones, Claudia Provance, Joseph South and Joselito Yap filed suit against Bannum Place of Beaumont LLC and Bannum Inc. on July 30 in the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division.

Bannum Place Of Beaumont LLC, based in Odessa, Fla., is a private company categorized under Offender Rehabilitation Agency.

The defendants are accused of intentionally discriminating against the plaintiffs because of their age, race, and national origin in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, their civil rights, and the Texas Labor Code.

According to the lawsuit, the employees were terminated because of their age and were replaced with younger employees.

"The Corporate Human Resources manager for Bannum, Inc. instructed the directors at the Beaumont facilities to fire the old, crippled, white and Filipino employees. Defendants replaced plaintiff with employees who were non-white, non-Asian, non-Filipino, and under 40 years of age," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit is seeking an award of damages for back pay and employment benefits, reinstatement or front pay, compensatory damages for emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and economic losses, exemplary damages, liquidated damages, attorney's fees and court costs.

The plaintiffs are represented by Kenneth W. Lewis and Stephen L. Townsend of Bush Lewis in Beaumont. A jury trial is requested.

U.S. District Judge Ron Clark is assigned to the case.

Case No. 1:12-cv-00377