I’m Elbert Mathews, and I'm trying to raise $15,000 for legal representation in my lawsuit against G&C Food Distributors for Employment Discrimination. I filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York as Elbert Mathews v. G&C Food Distributors, Case No: 5:24-cv-01207-GTS/CBF
I believe that divine intervention and the love of our Lord and Savior are why I’m still here to share my story. Thanks to His grace, I’ve spent the last four years fighting this battle on my own while dealing with financial difficulties to support my family.
My family’s emotional well-being, our livelihood and the birth of my daughter who was born in 2023, have pushed me to stand up against the wrongs I faced as a victim of workplace violence and discrimination.
While I was working for G&C Food Distributors in Syracuse, New York, I faced discrimination and was fired in Retaliation after I reported my extremely traumatic, humiliating, and stressful experience to a supervisor and team leader. A coworker verbally threatened me and even tried to stab me in the back with a knife because of my Race.
I need to make sure this situation is known to the public so that this employer is held accountable and that no one else has to go through this.
On June 7, 2022, I was working in production, assembling boxes and putting together frozen vegetable blends. I even volunteered to switch jobs with another employee when she mentioned her back was bothering her.
While doing the job I volunteered for, I noticed a group of coworkers that are White huddled together and chanting while listening to rock music at the production line where I was initially assigned to work. I couldn't hear their conversations, but they kept staring over their shoulders at me.
I remember being concerned about the groups behavior but carried on with doing my job. Then out of nowhere, I was confronted with hostility by a White male that was atleast 30 years younger than me. He threw garbage into the boxes I had assembled of frozen vegetable blends. I'm a middle aged Black man and was 57 at the time of the incident.
When I asked him why he was in my work area and to pick up his garbage, he told me that a good n**** is a dead n**** . After hearing this from him I turned away and headed to my supervisors office, but I turned back around when I felt the young man rush me from behind. He tried to stab me in the back while cursing and yelling that he was going to kill me.
I was the only Black male in the production room at the time. Then just so happened, the team leader who is also a Black male walked into the production room and yelled for the young man to put his knife down and walked us to the supervisors office.
No police were called, I told the supervisor and team leader what happened, but the supervisor treated me as though I must have done or said something to provoke the guy that attacked me. He then immediately escorted me off the premises, and later that day sent me a text saying not to report to work tomorrow until further notice.
On June 10th 2022, I was fired for "no call no show" while on administrative leave during the company’s investigation of the incident, yet the supervisor told me not to report to work until further notice. Its through Discovery I learned the Defendant fired the young man that attacked me for workplace violence, but said I was an instigator.
The team leader that intervened gave his statement about the young mans behavior and that he had pulled a knife on me, but other employees that were present at the time of the incident, didn't intervene or give any statements.
The video footage I received from the Defendant was tampered with, the young mans back is to the camera to hide his identity but the knife he used to attack me with is visible. It has no audio and they’ve omitted footage where there were employees that witnessed the attack against me, which I believe was planned.
I also believe that G&C Food Distributors are using my Race as a scapegoat by accusing me of being an instigator of an unprovoked and violent racial attack against me. Then in Retaliation they fired me for "no call no show" during their investigation, after telling me not to report to work until further notice.
I'm still fighting my case pro se and in dire need of legal representation and educational resources that could help me further along in my case. Any amount of help that I receive will be greatly appreciated and sufficient.
Thank you,
Elbert Mathews
