Black-owned Jackson Business Sues Workforce Board Over Federal Funding Limits for Student Training
A Black-owned forklift training business in West Tennessee, All-Star Training, LLC, has filed a lawsuit against the Southwest Tennessee Workforce Development Board. The lawsuit claims that the board is discriminating against the business by capping the number of students who can use federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funds for training at the facility. Reginald Carrick, the owner, argues that this cap is arbitrary and extreme, limiting his business to only nine students per year despite a high demand for forklift operators in the region. The lawsuit highlights that other white-owned businesses offering similar training do not face such restrictions. The board justifies the cap by citing labor market projections that suggest a lower demand for forklift operators compared to commercial truck drivers, who are allowed more funding. Carrick's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Tennessee, seeks to challenge these funding limitations as discriminatory. 
