Worker: Boss slapped him in the face in front of other employees

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A worker at a local plant claims he was slapped by his boss in front of other employees.

This allegedly happened while McArthur Readoux was the plant manager at Chung's Products, a company that produces egg rolls in a plant on Dexter Street in Third Ward.

"I recently got married and I have to provide for my family," Readoux said.

So he says he turned the other cheek when his boss assaulted him in March.

"He gets right here in my face do you understand me, then all of a sudden...he was pushing me back. And then he just slapped me," he said.

Readoux tells Eyewitness News the CEO got physical with him again on back-to-back days in July.

"He grabbed me by my shirt collar in front of the maintenance manager and just started pulling on my shirt like this: do you hear me?"

Readoux says he is 6 feet 2 inches tall and his manager is close in height.

He filed a racial discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. In it, he also claims the CEO called him and other black managers "boy," and that he once said in a meeting that he was "just a redneck from Mississippi and doesn't give a ___."

"I went through a lot in Louisiana dealing with being all kinds of racist words all my life growing up," Readoux explained. "You would think in this day in time you wouldn't hear that stuff, but I did."

We went to get the CEO's side of the story. We were told he was in a meeting and referred to an attorney. The attorney says they don't comment on pending legal matters.

"I'm sure they don't have a policy that allows for slapping or assaulting in the workplace," said Readoux's attorney, LaShawn Williams.

Williams says they tried mediation with Chung's but that was unsuccessful.

"He wanted to return to work. He wanted the wages from the time he'd been off. He's not been paid compensation while on medical leave. And his leave is associated with the assaults."

They're pursuing criminal charges, and planning civil litigation once the EEOC process is done. They also want the CEO fired.