NEWARK (CN) - While discussing a black corrections officer's grievance, the man's own union rep used the word "nigger" over a dozen times, a complaint in New Jersey alleges.
Grover Jackson sued Policemen's Benevolent Association Local No. 105 on Nov. 10 in Essex County Superior Court.
The complaint comes in the wake of a June 2013 grievance that Jackson filed against Newark's Northern State Prison while he was working as a senior corrections officer there.
That October, Jackson allegedly met to discuss the status of that grievance with Carlton Easton, PBA 105's institutional vice president. Easton is not a party to the action.
Jackson says that Easton "responded in an unnecessarily aggressive and demeaning manner to plaintiff's comments about his grievance" during the meeting.
"Specifically, during the course of that conversation, Mr. Easton used the phrase 'nigger' approximately 15 times," the complaint states.
Jackson says any other black officer in such circumstances would have found that the harassment made the environment "hostile and/or intimidating and/or abusive."
"The harassment is also especially egregious and having been undertaken by a member of upper management warrants the imposition of punitive damages," the complaint states.
Trenton-based PBA Local 105 did not respond to a request for comment.
Jackson seeks damages for racial discrimination. He is represented by Kevin Costello with Costello & Mains of Mount Laurel, N.J.
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