Shawn Cody
Former employee sues Plano company for unlawful retaliation, claiming he was fired for reporting anti-LGBTQ behavior
CAROLINE SAVOIE | Contributing Writer
CarolineLSavoie@gmail.com
After Shawn Cody, a 40-year-old McKinney resident, reported that his supervisor at Ferguson Enterprises made racist and homophobic comments, a representative from the company’s Human Resources department fired him. Now Cody is alleging in a recently-filed lawsuit that he was unlawfully fired as retaliation for reporting his boss’s anti-LGBTQ comments and behavior.
“This is always on my mind,” said Cody, who has a 12-year-old daughter with a heart condition. “When I was getting fired, I told them I was going to lose my health insurance.”
He said he told the company representatives, “You may have just killed my daughter.” He said HR representative Sandy Tinkham told him to get temporary health insurance, and he had to pay $1,200 a month for it.
“We had to have insurance on her,” Cody said. “Her medicine was between $500 and $600 out of pocket without insurance. I needed health insurance. I needed that job.”
Cody was a warehouse manager at Ferguson Enterprises’ waterworks division in McKinney which sells underground construction equipment. He worked at the branch from December 2018 to May 2023. He said he was promoted twice a year, every year, and that he won an award for associate of the year in September 2021.
On Aug. 27 this year, Cody filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.
Ellen Johnston
According to his lawyer Ellen Johnston, Cody charges that he was fired after reporting his supervisor, Scott Nichols, to the HR department in March 2023.
“During his employment, he witnessed Nichols, the branch manager, making derogatory remarks about employees and customers based on their race and sexual orientation,” according to a press release announcing the lawsuit.
Cody said that Nichols, who became the branch manager in February 2022, called customers “fucking faggots” and said that a Black employee should be “targeted” the same way as another Black employee who Nichols had recently fired.
“When the management changed, the culture changed,” Cody said. “He was the manager for several months before I started picking up on things. If he ever said anything in front of anyone else, they never said anything about it.”
Cody, who is a straight white man, reported these comments to the HR department in a five-page ethics complaint on March 20.
“I could feel the tension after making the report,” Cody said. “I knew I might face retaliation for filing a complaint, but I had to report it. I had filed an ethics complaint to protect myself once, and I was the direct manager to these guys [Nichols was targeting]. If I could do it for myself, I had to be able to do it to protect other people.”
Cody said Tinkham told him that “Nichols, as branch manager, can handle the branch however he wants,” the press release said. “Tinkham also told Cody that he does not get to complain.”
On May 2 of last year, Tinkham fired Cody, saying that he failed to wear a safety vest. Cody insists he was wearing his bright yellow, high-visibility shirt like the other employees at the branch. Cody’s complaint alleges that this reason for termination was a “manufactured pretext” to fire Cody for reporting Nichols.
When he was called into the meeting during which he was fired, “I was led to believe that we were just going to talk about the ethics complaint,” Cody said. “[Tinkham] was the only one who spoke, and she said, ‘This just isn’t working out.’
Scott was in the room, and Sandy was on a [Microsoft] Teams call.”
“Finding a job after this was awful,” Cody said. “I applied to so many places I couldn’t keep up with it. I applied to four dozen places, at least. I ended up finding a job at EGW in Carrollton.”
Cody’s lawsuit said that “Ferguson’s actions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. § 198, which prohibit discrimination and retaliation based on sexual orientation, race and color.
“Cody seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief to prevent Ferguson from engaging in further unlawful practices,” according to the press release.
Cody is represented by Ellen Johnston and Rob Wiley of Rob Wiley, P.C.
“Shawn Cody stood up for what is right and paid a heavy price for it,” Johnston said. “He was fired for doing his duty as a responsible employee and a decent human being. We intend to hold Ferguson accountable for its unlawful and reprehensible behavior.”
When contacted for comment, a representative of Ferguson Enterprises told Dallas Voice, “It our policy not to comment on pending litigation.”