I was fired because I am white, Youngstown worker alleges in lawsuit

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A former 20-year city employee, fired after an arrest, is suing Youngstown and Mayor Jay Williams saying he lost his job because he’s white.

The lawsuit filed by an attorney for Robert Kauffman of West Boston Avenue acknowledges the former water department worker was fired for failing to report the loss of his driver’s license, failing to maintain a license, possession of drugs and sick-leave abuse.

But Thomas N. Michaels of Poland, Kauffman’s attorney, wrote in the lawsuit that the firing was “motivated based on [his client’s] race,” and that black employees who “engaged in the same or similar conduct” were “not terminated from their employment.”

Kauffman, 56, wants to be reinstated to his water department job that paid him $42,998.28 in annual base-pay salary. He is also seeking compensatory damages for lost wages, salary benefits, lost retirement and lost seniority as well as money for his “mental anguish and pain and suffering,” according to the lawsuit.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com