HOUSTON – A Harris County man is suing the Exxon Mobil Corp. for wrongful termination, asserting the multinational oil and gas corporation fired him because he is a Hungarian national.
Gyula Olah filed a lawsuit on Aug. 15 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas.
Having been recruited and selected to work on ExxonMobil’s Gulf Coast Growth Venture project, Olah claims the defendant “refused to give him the position that was promised.”
“Specifically, ExxonMobil promised Mr. Olah an overseas appointment to either Taiwan or Japan,” the suit says. “Instead, a white, British employee who had not been working on the project was given the position in Taiwan and a less-experienced white, American employee was given the position in Japan.”
According to court documents, at the time the respondent terminated Olah, his supervisor told him, “There is not a chance for somebody like you to get an ExxonMobil direct contract with our department.”
“The phrase ‘somebody like you’ referred to Mr. Olah’s race and national origin,” the original petition says.
Consequently, the plaintiff seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by Julie L. St. John and Robert J. Wiley of Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:18-CV-2809