Perdue farms perry GA
Discrimatory actions

Complaint against Perdue Farms
3/10

I was hired on February 26 as Manager for the Parry cook plant. I feel like from the beginning I have been discriminated against based on my age and race. I want to give specific instances that substantiate this claim.
I was reassigned to a North Carolina plant at a critical point in the Parry Cook plant's opening, a move that was designed to keep me out of the decision making process. It was presented as a "training opportunity". I did not receive any training; I actually have over 2 decades of experience in this industry.

On June 7th there was a noose hung on the wall of a Maintenance Supervisor. I made a formal complaint to Mr. Richard Ratteau, the Plant Manager at the time Mr. Ratteau called a meeting of all Managers and Supervisors and in that meeting he stated " I understand you are offended, but "Get Over it". No other action was taken by HR or Perdue Executives. This noose is still in the operations manager desk drawer.
In a Manager's meeting led by George Ralston-VP of Operations for the Perry Cook Plant, that reviewed the minutes from an Employee's Luncheon, each Manager was asked to go over their minutes, when asked to go over the 2nd shift's minutes, Marie Rivera HR manager proceeded to send for her "clerk" Laura Greco, because she knew what happened. I protested and said was I was there as well, and didn't need Laura to review them, she grossly disrespected me and proceeded to get her HR Rep and who gave the minutes.
I later complained to the VP and he stated nonchalantly "she shouldn't have done that" but did nothing during the meeting to stop her.

In another blatant incident of gross discrimination, an HR Manager (Maria Rivera) approached me and stated, "You are protecting Charlotte Thomas" a night shift Supervisor and said" we do not need people like her around here and I am going to do anything in my power to get rid of her". I spoke to George Ralston - VP of Operations, he took no actions. I spoke to Tom Lee-Plant Manager, no actions were taken.

I was written up on 2/26 for Unacceptable Performance by Mr. Tom Lee.in his documentation, he stated that the 2nd shift was the reason for a financial loss that exceeded $22,000. He said that the night shift cook temperatures were 8-10% higher than the day shift. I know for a fact that we've cooked at higher temperatures with a loss of less money. The actual reason for that loss was the Day Shift had 2 HACCP violation for temperature because of the progrill cooker not working properly. A HACCP violation for temps is when the product temps go under 160 degrees when this happens the line is stopped but product is still cooking and losing weight. The progrill was still not working properly at the beginning of my 2nd shift. The decision was made to slow the cooker belt down to prevent any further HACCP deviation. This means that the loss of yield was more likely caused by first shift. Our first priority was to protect the customer and
the Perdue brand. I was never given a chance to explain this to Mr Lee he only listens to Larry wade the dayshift manager he just wrote me up without asking me anything.
The write up also states there was a miss-fire on the CAT2 system and the Associate/Supervisor did not follow protocol. This was not due to human-error, the probe went off without any product on it at that time, the associate was not probing product at the time. The Supervisor was present at the time of this incident. Again I was not asked about the matter. He stated that the policy is to look at the cameras which are set up above the temp stations before we start up which is not true I have a copy of the policy.
I went home ill on Doctor's order on 2/22/08 and when returned on the following Tuesday, after 2 days off, I was given this write up with no chance for investigation which is a part of my job responsibility and no chance for rebuttal or explanation in my defense.

I want to point out some statistics that adds to my discrimination claim.
Out of 61 HACCP Deviations for temps, 54 were from 1st shift and a few from C shift. No Manager or Supervisor has ever been written up for that. There are 3 occasions where the product was undercooked and allowed to go to the freezer and the freezer had to be washed I have documentation on A shift (twice) and C shift,

On 1/1 approximately 40,000lbs of product was condemned because it was undercooked and no Supervisor or Manager was written up.

In closing, It is evident that this write up was a retaliation based on a meeting I had with Mr. Lee He called me to his office and stated that 1st shift had a terrible run on the Schwans product and 2nds shift needed to pick up the pace if we are to make any money on that product, He then asked me " is something wrong" I said no, I will keep it to myself" He asked a 2nd and then 3rd time and I gave in and stated that he treats the 1st shift differently than 2nd shift, with holding 2nd shift on different accountability levels, when it comes to production and cost. There has been numerous documented occasion, that night shift comes in and runs 30f thousand mores pounds than the day shift ran, and without any downtime, specifically the glazed products. Mr. Lee turned noticeably upset and stated " He was not going to sit there and have me judge his integrity" I said Tom you asked me and I told you how I felt, I'm not
questioning your integrity, just stating the facts as I see them. 2 days later 2/26/08 he sites me for unacceptable performance.

On 2/27th/08 there was a temperature deviation taken by a associate that was new in her position. The temperature was 150.By the time the product reached 150 there was no more product on the belt, the oven was already stopped. After the line was washed and sanitized and the QA supervisor released the line the line was started again. 15 minutes later Eric Wheeler came to me and stated he wanted to look at the camera which is placed above the temp staion to help monitor that area., to see if his new person followed procedure. When we looked at the tape it appeared the the associate did anot stop all the belts neccsary to stop undercook product to get into the freezer. 30 seconds of product was allowed to hit the freezer which meant it had to be sanitized. I told Eric to stop the line and I called Tom Lee and told him what had happened and that we had to sanitize the freezer he stated he was on his way. When he got there I told him what has happened and
he stated the he was relieving me Eric the supervisor and Semico Askew the Qa supervisor and for us to come back in tomorrow, everyone involed is Black. The next day I was suspened pending investigation and asked if I wanted to resign I could. I stated I will not resign. The other 2 supervisors were written up and allowed to come back to work rhe next day. On Maech 5th 2008 I was terminated from Perdue by Mr Lee staing job performance.

I have been dedicated to Purdue Farms since the day I was hired, my dedication has never been questioned. I have endured 12-14 hr days including weekends, to get this company to the status it is today. The numbers suggest that the 2nd shift has played a major role in making this company profitable. I am not criticizing other shifts, but I attempted to get our numbers separated for comparison purposes to point out areas of improvement and to give credit where credit is due. I am the last Production Manager from the original Managers that opened the Parry Cook Plant and the only Black. The last and only review I've ever received was an Above Average rating.in one week I went from being a valuable Team Player to some who is not committed and not engaged in the success of this Plant according to Mr. Lee. This could not be further from the truth, I believe in equal treatment and most of all Fairness from anyone in and executive position.

In closing the samething I was written up for and fired has happen numerous times with white managers being involed and nothing happened. I know I was discriminated against for my race and age which is 48.

Company: Perdue farms perry GA
Country: USA
State: Georgia
City: Perry
Address: 247 spur

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