HOUSTON – An American expatriate in South Korea is suing his Houston-based employer for discrimination based on nationality.
Ryan Salkaln filed a lawsuit against American Bureau of Shipping in Houston federal court on July 18, accusing the company of favoring its Korean workers.
A Louisiana resident, Salkaln alleges ABS targeted its expatriate employees, including himself, “by either demoting them, transferring them to undesirable locations, reducing their pay with contract changes, or terminating their employment altogether.”
He says the classification society sought to involuntarily transfer him from South Korea to Houma, La., which would purportedly separate him from his wife and daughter.
The suit asserts that Salkaln complained about the discrimination in question to the respondent’s human resources office only to have his transfer accelerated.
Consequently, the plaintiff seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by Kalandra N. Wheeler and Robert J. Wiley of Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:18-CV-2492