Former employees suing Lions for racial and age discrimination

Two former Detroit Lions employees have filed a lawsuit against the team, citing racial and age discrimination.

Michael Richardson and Robert Yanagi are suing the team and the NFL after they were fired in January, Nate Atkins of MLive.com reports.

Richardson, a 52-year-old black man, was the team's assistant video director. Yanagi, a 58-year-old of Japanese heritage, was the video operations director.

In their lawsuit, Richardson claims he was fired a month after filing a workers' compensation claim for a shoulder injury. He also filed a complaint to the team's HR department about a racist comment from a team scout. Yanagi claims he asked employees to stop making jokes about race. Both men went to HR about new general manager Bob Quinn's treatment of them due to their race.

"We are aware of the report. Because the report involves ongoing litigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time," the Lions said in a statement obtained by Michael Rothstein of ESPN.

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