A worker at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium construction site who took pictures of Confederate symbols on coworkers’ hard hats says he was fired after complaining.
He took a picture in March of coworkers wearing the controversial flags on their safety equipment.
The man asked Channel 2 Action News not to be identified out of fear of further retaliation.
The former Superior Rigging and Erecting Company contract worker told Channel 2 that he plans to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination.
And the NAACP is joining him in his fight.
“It’s unpatriotic disdain towards fellow workers,” Richard Rose, a spokesman for the NAACP, told Channel 2.
“Poor work performance” was the reason Rose said Superior gave him for the termination of its contractor.
That statement, Rose told Channel 2, went on to say that because Superior isn’t the controlling employer on the stadium project, it can’t reprimand employees or contractors who wear the Confederate flag as a symbol.
Another worker told Channel 2, “The rebel flags are there. They walk around like it’s common.”
Superior’s president, Patrick Lewis, sent a statement to Channel 2 saying the worker wasn’t fired because he complained.
Lewis said the accusations were investigated “by our company and by the EEOC and neither party was able to find any wrongdoing.”
The company president further clarified that Superior Rigging wasn’t the only company with workers on the job site — there were thousands of construction workers and hundreds of iron workers from various unions and companies.
“Our company has a strong anti-discrimination policy and any actions that go against that policy have not nor will never be tolerated,” Lewis said in the statement. “We look forward to another 60 years of outstanding service with our employees, to our customers, and in our wonderful community.”
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