Metro

Lawsuit: Construction company forced ex-cons to pay kickbacks

A major Long Island construction company that recruited black workers recently released from prison is being accused of demanding kickbacks from the ex-cons if they wanted to keep their jobs, according to a new federal law suit.

Frank Littlejohn claims that after he began working at Palatial Concrete in July of 2012 a supervisor known only as “Big Carl” approached and demanded that he fork over $150.

Asked what the money was for, Big Carl told Littlejohn he had to pay the money “for his fee in the ‘Black Coalition,'” according to the suit.

“Big Carl threatened plaintiff by telling him that if he wanted to continue working, he had to ‘play ball,'” papers state.

Littlejohn claims that non-black workers for the Calverton based company were never asked to pay special fees, according to the suit.

The laborer says he eventually rejected the demands and was later fired.

Littlejohn is suing the company – which could not be reached for comment — for discrimination, retaliation, and other civil rights abuses.