On Thursday, Ige Isijola filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Pharmaceutical Research Associates, Inc. alleging discrimination and wrongful termination.
According to the complaint, Pharmaceutical Research Associates, Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina doing business as PRA Health Sciences.
The complaint states Ige Isijola is a Nigerian citizen residing in Feasterville, Pennsylvania who was employed by the defendant as a Senior Clinical Researcher from February 2013 until his termination on November 7, 2019. Further, the complaint purports that, during his employment with the defendant, Isijola suffered from a medical condition that caused him to bleed when he sat.
The plaintiff alleges that he performed his job duties to the defendant’s satisfaction without any write-ups, complaints or issues until the end of 2018. The complaint alleges that towards the end of 2018, Isijola began experiencing disparate treatment from his supervisors, Emiliy Chambers and Kerri Cali. In one such alleged incident, Cali approved a report by a Caucasian co-worker, but she had an issue with the plaintiff’s identical report. According to the complaint, Cali also complained about how the plaintiff spoke English due to his Nigerian accent. The plaintiff also allegedly received unwarranted write-ups from both Chambers and Cali.
The plaintiff argues Chambers and Cali did not treat non-Nigerian or non-African employees similarly and these supervisors micromanaged the plaintiff’s work because they had an issue with his Nigerian accent and “wanted to get rid of him.”
The complaint further alleges that in August 2019, the plaintiff spoke to his manager, Megan Jung, about needing time off for medical reasons and constantly asked Jung if she would approve one day off for him to receive a medical procedure. The plaintiff alleges that Ms. Jung continuously delayed approving Isijola’s day off for his medical procedure until his termination.
The complaint states the plaintiff exhausted his administrative remedies pursuant to the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and therefore has initiated the present action. The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, delay damages, costs and attorneys’ fees for the defendants discrimination and wrongful termination under Title VII, the ADA, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and failure to accomidate his disability under the ADA and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. The plaintiff is represented by the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore, P.C.
