For 27 years, Marcellus Roberts worked as a Central Parking manager, regularly reminding his employees that if they worked hard and lived honestly, they would one day reap the benefits.
But in 2006, Roberts, 58, says his faith in a strong work ethic was shaken when other Central Parking managers began to refer to him as “boy” and directed racial epithets at him. In October 2008, the longtime manager with a spotless record and a personnel file full of positive letters from customers and former bosses was accused of stealing $30 from a parking lot money box. He was fired without appeal.
In a federal racial discrimination lawsuit working toward trial, Roberts says fellow managers excluded him from training, lunches and golf tournaments because he is black. When he complained to human resources about the incidents, he says, he was ignored.
“It made me feel small,” he said through tears in a recent interview. “But I loved my job, and I had a family and I had to work.”
Roberts has an affidavit from a former personnel manager at Central Parking bolstering his case. He also has his 27-year record, which contains no hint of previous problems.
Central Parking said it will defend the decision to fire Roberts at trial.
“Central Parking has been doing business in Denver for close to 40 years and we stand by our record as an equal-opportunity employer,” Don Holmes, senior vice president of human resources, wrote in an e-mail. “While we do not comment on confidential employee matters or pending litigation, we can say that the allegations and the lawsuit are baseless and we intend to vigorously defend our company against them.”
The case is set for a jury trial on March 14.
Confronted co-workers
Roberts says his problems with his longtime employer started slowly. He began to have concerns as far back as 2000, when he applied for an open position as a general manager, but the position was dissolved rather than filled. He was assigned the duties of a general manager but never got the money or the title, according to the suit.
Next, he was assigned to handle tasks normally delegated to more junior workers, like cleaning parking lots, including when they were stained with blood. As he objected, he then began to hear the racial terms and confronted his co-workers, telling them not to call him names. Many of those co-workers were originally from African nations, and while they shared skin color with Roberts, he says in the suit that they taunted him, and Central Parking’s white managers favored them with assignments.
Roberts says that after he complained, Central Parking retaliated against him by setting up a “salting,” where they marked money in a box and claimed it was missing at the end of his shift.
Police were never called, and the company ultimately accused Roberts not of stealing the money but of mishandling it.
Kim Dang, a former regional human-resources manager for Central Parking, verified in an affidavit that Roberts complained of being discriminated against, and she agreed he was wrongly fired.
“I did not agree with the decision to terminate Marcellus Roberts as I had concerns with the internal process that led to his termination,” she wrote. “It did not make sense that he be terminated when no one . . . witnessed him stealing money. He did not deserve to be subjected to discriminatory treatment by Central Parking management because of his race and color.”
Letters of praise
In Roberts’ personnel file, there are several commendation letters from his managers and the public. The letters thank him for jump-starting batteries, helping find cars in the dark and clearing up errors on tickets.
One letter details a time when Roberts helped catch a thief who was stealing money from the parking lots.
“Using unusual craftiness, Marcellus managed to lure the gentleman to him and get him to surrender,” operations manager Brad Combs wrote.
“I did everything with heart,” Roberts said.
After he was fired, Roberts blew through his retirement savings looking for a job to replace the $30-per-hour pay.
“I went into a depression. I would cry,” he said.
Roberts grew his hair long and didn’t shave his beard for a year.
Roberts has a bachelor’s degree in sociology, but his firing came in the midst of the recession and jobs were scarce.
He finally found part-time work on the graveyard shift loading Federal Express trucks. He now makes $12.25 an hour.
He says his wife, Therese, and his two daughters, ages 16 and 23, have helped him cope through the loss and reminded him that hard work still matters.
“The damage has been done,” he said, “but I know life is going to be good with my family. They are my backbone.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
