NEW ORLEANS – A former employee has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Kentronix alleging he was wrongfully terminated after reporting racial slurs from his operations manager.

Joshua Watkins filed the lawsuit in federal court against Alarm Central Inc. doing business as Kentronix citing discrimination and the violation of his rights as protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

According to court documents, Watkins is Black, which is protected class under Section 1981. Watkins says he was hired by Alarm Central to work as a technician on June 9, 2022. However, less than two weeks into his employment, on June 21, 2022, Watkins alleges he was subjected to racial slurs by his non-Black operations manager during a conversation. According to the lawsuit, following this incident, Watkins reported the offensive behavior to his upper manager, who instead of addressing the racial slur, informed Watkins the company could not afford to lose the operations manager. Watkins says he terminated from his position the next day.