Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994                   TAG: 9410100073
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SUIT ASKS $6 MILLION FROM UPS

Carl Richardson has said he believes he was fired in retaliation for speaking out against a policy requiring UPS drivers to handle packages weighing up to 150 pounds without assistance from other workers.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Richardson claimed that UPS falsely accused him of loafing on the job and of falsifying records to justify the company's decision to fire him.

Richardson claims in the lawsuit that UPS officials falsely stated that he had been seen sitting in his truck for half an hour in the parking lot of a Rockbridge County business.

Such false statements caused Richardson to suffer "humiliation, embarrassment, mortification, shame, vilification, ridicule, exposure to public infamy, disgrace, scandal, injury to his reputation, and financial loss," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit seeks $1 million in compensatory damages and another $5 million in punitive damages. UPS officials at the company's Atlanta headquarters were not available to comment Friday.

The company policy allowing heavier packages drew picketers - including members of Richardson's family - who in March marched outside the Roanoke UPS package-sorting terminal on Thirlane Road.

Richardson, who worked for UPS for 10 years, has said he was fired days after he exercised his rights under a union agreement to seek help with the heavier packages.