Former LaCroix Employee Sues Company Over Being Fired For BPA Claims

Like many office workers across the country, I'm currently drinking from a can of berry-flavored LaCroix as I type these words: A former LaCroix vice president at LaCroix is suing its parent company over claims that he was fired in retaliation.

Albert Dejewski filed the lawsuit in a New Jersey court on Thursday. He claims that National Beverage Company president Joseph Caporella pressured Dejewski to publicly state that LaCroix cans does not contain BPA. According to the Mayo Clinic, BPA is an industrial chemical which, when exposed to humans, may cause adverse health effects. However, the FDA has said that BPA is safe in low levels.

According to CBS News, Dejewski claimed that Caporella wanted to "prematurely announce that the LaCroix cans would be BPA-free going forward, months before the true production date, in order to drive positive buzz and awareness for the suffering brand," when in fact the actual production date, Dejewski claimed, was at least four months away. Dejewski was fired for objecting to Caporella's plan, the lawsuit alleged.

LaCroix has responded by saying its cans, as of April, no longer uses BPA liners, according to Fortune. National Beverage Company said of the lawsuit: "False statements were made in litigation brought by a former employee seeking to extract a monetary recovery from the company." National Beverage also produces Shasta and Faygo sodas.