The liquid waste contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina wants a federal judge to throw out a discrimination lawsuit, saying the former employee and plaintiff “has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
The lawsuit, filed April 24, is one of two open discrimination suits against Savannah River Remediation (SRR) in U.S. District Court in Columbia, S.C., and one of several such cases the DOE site as a whole has faced in recent years.
Jimmy Rouse alleges he was wrongfully discharged in February 2016 after an 11-year tenure as a carpenter with SRR. Rouse, who is African-American, regularly received praise and pay increases for his work prior to being terminated, according to the complaint.
The suit alleges that, in February 2016, Rouse contacted Savannah River Site security contractor Centerra after witnessing an illegal drug transaction in one facility parking lot. A K-9 team responded, found a bag of marijuana in a car, and arrested the vehicle’s owner, Rouse’s lawsuit says.
However, authorities determined that Rouse’s fingerprints were on the bag of marijuana, and he failed a drug test. “Plaintiff was never provided with the results of any of his tests, and adamantly denied the accusations,” the complaint states, adding that Rouse’s termination is a “direct result of (SRR’s) continuous pattern of intentional discriminatory treatment.”
Rouse is seeking reinstatement, back pay for the time he has missed at work, and payment of his legal fees.
In a response filed on June 8, attorneys for SRR said Rouse has failed to articulate or identify an actionable cause of action based on the factual allegations. “Therefore, dismissal (of the lawsuit) is appropriate,” the contractor said.
Savannah River Remediation added that Rouse refused to take a polygraph test, and that further investigation showed him to be dishonest, which led to his termination. “Rouse’s allegations simply establish that he disagrees with SRR’s decision to terminate him for dishonesty,” according to the dismissal request.
This is one of four discrimination lawsuits filed since 2013 against the contractor in federal court in Columbia. In a case filed in August 2016, Adrienne Saulsberry, an African-American woman and former employee of 23 years at SRR, alleged she was terminated in 2013 because of her role in a different incident that also had racial overtones.
In spring 2013, a white SRR employee was terminated after an internal investigation confirmed he had made threats toward then-President Barack Obama while in the presence of African-American co-workers, according to Saulsberry’s lawsuit.
Saulsberry, who was a radiological first-line manager at Savannah River, confirmed to management that the white employee had made racially motivated comments. The complaint alleges she subsequently faced backlash from other white co-workers who were friends of the fired employee. Specifically, Saulsberry alleged Tim Kerrigan, a deputy facilities manager, held Saulsberry’s testimony against her, which eventually led to her dismissal in 2013. Saulsberry’s departure was part of a planned reduction in force (RIF), but her lawsuit claims it was used as a cover-up to get rid of her, according to the complaint.
In a response, SRR either denied Saulsberry’s claims or said it had insufficient information to evaluate their validity. The contractor reiterated that she was let go under the reduction in force.
Similar to Rouse, Saulsberry is seeking reinstatement, back pay, and payment of her attorney fees from SRR.
In the other discrimination lawsuits, a judge dismissed one case and the other ended with a ruling in favor of Savannah River Remediation.
The liquid waste contractor is a partnership of AECOM, Bechtel, CH2M, and BWX Technologies.
Site-wide, SRS has faced a host of similar suits in recent years. In October 2015, a former employee sued Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the site’s management and operations contractor, saying she was denied a better job opportunity because she was Hispanic and the person who got the job was white. SRNS eventually settled that suit, but details of the settlement were not disclosed.
On Aug. 12, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor ordered Savannah River Nuclear Solutions to pay $234,895 to 72 black and female workers. The Labor Department stated that, between 2009 and 2010, SRNS paid 57 female employees less than their male counterparts and 15 African-American employees less than their white counterparts. The contractor was also told to review its personnel policies to resolve allegations of systemic pay discrimination.
SRNS responded that it disagreed with the findings, but that it was “happy to reconfirm our company’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal employment opportunities offered to all of our employees, regardless of their race, gender or membership in any of the other categories protected by law.”
