A man who claims he tipped off the USDA about a shipment of bad meat that had been sold to a Washington County discount grocer filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer yesterday.

Ron M. Labick, of Castle Shannon, claims that the company, American Dispatch Inc., retaliated against him for reporting the rotten shipment of 2,814 pounds of meat back in September 2005.

Wednesday, American Dispatch owner and president Thomas Goslin appeared in federal court and entered a no-contest plea to selling adulterated meat.

He would not comment on the pending lawsuit.

According to the complaint, filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Labick was the first shift supervisor as well as the supervisor who handled overage, shortage and damaged goods at American Dispatch, a transportation company based in the Strip District.

He claims that he saw a bill of sale for the spoiled meat -- which included dozens of cases of Hillshire/Kahns Big Franks, Hebrew National beef hot dogs, Wellshire thick rub pork bacon and Humbolt pork sausage -- on Sept. 28, 2005.

Mr. Labick said he instructed an employee at the company that the meat was not to be loaded for delivery because it was spoiled.

When he arrived at work the next day, the lawsuit said, Mr. Labick found the meat had already been loaded on a truck. He removed the two pallets, but later that day, when he was out of the office, they were delivered to Groceries Plus More in McDonald.

The lawsuit claims that Mr. Labick contacted the United States Department of Agriculture because he was concerned for the public's safety.

On Sept. 30, 2005, Mr. Labick said he told Mr. Goslin that he reported the incident to the USDA, at which point, he claims, he was berated. He also said he was given two options: to rewrite the companies overage, shortage and damage policy, or work at his previous position as the second shift supervisor.

Ultimately, Mr. Labick claims, the new policy he wrote was not accepted, and he was again offered different positions within the company. When he refused to accept one of those, he was terminated on Oct. 22, 2005.

He is seeking both lost earnings and damages.

Paula Reed Ward can be reached at pward@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2620.