A federal judge in South Carolina said Thursday that race might have been a factor in why a laid-off employee with the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor was not rehired for a separate job five years ago.
Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett added that, while Savannah River Remediation (SRR) says it used evaluation scores to lay off Adrienne Saulsberry in September 2013, it did not follow that same method of deciding employment when she applied for a new position eight months later.
Saulsberry in 2016 sued SRR in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, with Judge J. Michelle Childs overseeing the case. Ahead of a potential trial, Gossett was asked to review the case, gather facts, and issue a report and recommendations. Childs will use that report to decide whether to issue summary judgment, as requested by SRR’s legal team, or allow the case to proceed to trial.
In her March 28 report, Gossett largely accepted the case made by Saulsberry, an African-American woman who had worked at the Savannah River Site since 1990 and as a radiological first line manager with Savannah River Remediation since 2008. In part, Gossett wrote SRR hired white employees for the same position Saulsberry applied for. These employees were either less qualified than Saulsberry, or scored worse on tests than she did.
Saulsberry said she was terminated in September 2013 after confirming to SRR management that a white employee had made racially motivated comments. She said the employee was a friend of one of her superiors, who had a hand in her firing. She is seeking reinstatement, back pay, and payment of her legal fees by SRR.
In May 2014, Saulsberry applied for one of two first-line manager positions with the contractor. She says she was turned down even though she was more qualified than the two white applicants who received the jobs.
In September 2018, SRR asked Childs to dismiss the case. The contractor said Saulsberry’s termination was based on a required reduction in workforce. Savannah River Remediation said it used evaluation scores to determine who would keep their jobs, and Saulsberry tested worse than employees who were retained. The evaluations were based on past and current performance, peer rankings, knowledge of the job, and skill sets related to the position.
Saulsberry was one of four radiological first line managers laid off, but the only African-American manager.
In her report and recommendations, Gossett said the contractor’s approach was reasonable when it came to reducing the workforce. However, she took issue with SRR for failing to rehire Saulsberry when she applied for another job. The contractor’s hiring standards state that employees who were involuntarily let go will receive preference over other candidates when a suitable job becomes available. But Saulsberry didn’t receive a call when the managerial positions became available, though several white prospects did. “The evidence could reasonably support an inference that white former employees were treated more favorably than Saulsberry in connection with the rehiring preference,” Gossett wrote in her report.
She added Saulsberry tested better than one of the people, a white male, hired for one of the managerial jobs. The other person, a white female, didn’t even meet the minimal requirements for the job. “By contrast, Saulsberry, who was entitled to it, received no benefit from it in the hiring decision process. Thus, contrary to the defendant’s argument, Saulsberry’s contentions are not merely based on her own subjective opinion as to her relative qualifications as opposed to her employer’s,” Gossett wrote.
Gossett recommends that Childs not consider the layoff at trial but to continue on with the rehiring issue due to a potential racial bias.
The two parties have until April 11 to respond to Gossett’s report. After that, Childs will use all of the information to make her ruling. There is no timeline for when she will make a decision.
Savannah River Remediation is a partnership of AECOM, Bechtel National, CH2M, and BWX Technologies. Since its original eight-year, $5 billion deal ended in June 2017, Savannah River Remediation’s contract has been extended four times, the most recent coming this week. The Energy Department announced Monday that SRR will stay on the job for another 18 months, lasting through September 30, 2020. The new deal is worth roughly, $750 million.
