A Texas man is suing over claims he experienced racial discrimination as an employee of BP Products.
Donald Warnell filed a lawsuit April 30 in the Southern District Court of Texas Houston Division against BP Products North America, citing discrimination.
According to the complaint, Warnell began working for BP at its Texas City refinery in 2000 as a warehouseman and worked his way up to a supervising position.
During that time Warnell, an African American, alleges he suffered discrimination during his employment, such as receiving less compensation and fewer benefits than lower-performing white employees and being the subject of racial slurs.
Warnell claims that when he made an internal complaint about the matter, BP retaliated by making up complaints about his performance and putting retaliatory low rankings in his file, ultimately demoting him to a non-essential position directly before the company was taken over by Marathon in 2013.
Warnell is seeking damages, attorney's fees and lost earnings.
He is being represented in the case by attorney Keryl L. Douglas.
Southern District Court of Texas Houston Division Case No. 4:14-CV-1200
This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Southern District Court of Texas Houston Division. 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.