A Black former contracts employee is suing the city of Calabasas, alleging he was fired in June in retaliation for filing complaints that he was denied deserved promotions and salary increases because of his race.
Cedric Henry’s Los Angeles Superior Court discrimination and retaliation lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A Calabasas representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Tuesday.
Henry, now 52, was hired in 2008 as an accounts receivable employee in the city’s finance department and three years later he was promoted to grant contracts administrator. In 2019, the city hired a new finance director who also served as chief financial officer and was Henry’s immediate supervisor.
The CFO assigned Henry additional work, including obtaining contracts and signatures instead of just reviewing contracts as Henry did before, the suit states. Henry sought a raise, but the CFO denied it without explanation, the suit states.
Henry was given more duties in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but each time he was not promoted or given a pay raise, according to the suit, which further states that in August 2022 he filed an internal discrimination complaint that was denied the next year.
As the alleged discrimination continued, Henry made another internal complaint in August 2023, but three months later the CFO issued the plaintiff the first negative performance evaluation ever, the suit states.
Henry was terminated on June 26 of this year due to alleged poor performance, the suit states. But Henry believes he lost his job due to his race and in retaliation for his complaints alleging discrimination, according to the suit, which further contends that the plaintiff has suffered financial losses and emotional distress since his job was taken away.