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A Weird Battle
[caption id="attachment_18980" align="alignleft" width="349" caption="A poster outside one of Lorig's properties"]
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There's a weird battle shaping up in the city of Olympia between Seattle developer Bruce Lorig, who's seeking a contract with that city to build a municipal parking garage, and a group called the Seattle Solidarity Network, "SeaSol" for short.
SeaSol (mission: to "deal with specific job, housing, and other problems caused by the greed of the rich and powerful") has been protesting outside Olympia city council meetings and Lorig properties, accusing Lorig of racism because they say he promoted a white administrative assistant over a black woman who had been with the company for years.
SeaSol alleges that Lorig discriminated against Patricia Milton, a black woman who worked for the developer for 11 years. They claim that Perkins-Milton was asked to fill in at a position that usually paid more than her previous job for five months, then forced to train an inexperienced white worker who took the position permanently.
The group is known in Seattle, most recently, for protesting outside Jimmy John's restaurants over the firing of a Jimmy John's employee because his manager thought he smelled bad.
SSN's claims are full of colorful language, calling Lorig and his associates "snakes" and "disgusting corporate slimebags" and comparing Lorig to "Gladiator" villain Commodus.
On November 9, Lorig sued Milton, saying she had violated the terms of her severance package, which barred her from "making disparaging remarks or making any employment-related claims stemming from the separation."
The lawsuit seeks to bar Milton and SeaSol from making false or defamatory statements about Lorig and to stop demonstrating outside his properties, and for unspecified damanges.
In a statement, Lorig denied all the accusations, saying that Perkins-Milton left voluntarily several years ago.
"For reasons unknown to Lorig, Ms. Milton is acting in complete disregard for that agreement, including fabricating events that never occurred and demanding money from Lorig" in exchange for stopping the demonstrations, the statement says.
[/caption]There's a weird battle shaping up in the city of Olympia between Seattle developer Bruce Lorig, who's seeking a contract with that city to build a municipal parking garage, and a group called the Seattle Solidarity Network, "SeaSol" for short.
SeaSol (mission: to "deal with specific job, housing, and other problems caused by the greed of the rich and powerful") has been protesting outside Olympia city council meetings and Lorig properties, accusing Lorig of racism because they say he promoted a white administrative assistant over a black woman who had been with the company for years.
SeaSol alleges that Lorig discriminated against Patricia Milton, a black woman who worked for the developer for 11 years. They claim that Perkins-Milton was asked to fill in at a position that usually paid more than her previous job for five months, then forced to train an inexperienced white worker who took the position permanently.
The group is known in Seattle, most recently, for protesting outside Jimmy John's restaurants over the firing of a Jimmy John's employee because his manager thought he smelled bad.
SSN's claims are full of colorful language, calling Lorig and his associates "snakes" and "disgusting corporate slimebags" and comparing Lorig to "Gladiator" villain Commodus.
On November 9, Lorig sued Milton, saying she had violated the terms of her severance package, which barred her from "making disparaging remarks or making any employment-related claims stemming from the separation."
The lawsuit seeks to bar Milton and SeaSol from making false or defamatory statements about Lorig and to stop demonstrating outside his properties, and for unspecified damanges.
In a statement, Lorig denied all the accusations, saying that Perkins-Milton left voluntarily several years ago.
"For reasons unknown to Lorig, Ms. Milton is acting in complete disregard for that agreement, including fabricating events that never occurred and demanding money from Lorig" in exchange for stopping the demonstrations, the statement says.
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