The Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and an employee who filed suit in 2021, claiming he was wrongly bypassed for promotion because of his race, have agreed to dismiss the federal court case.
As a result, a status conference set for April 12 in the litigation brought by security employee Eddie Thomas against Nuclear Waste Partnership has been canceled, according to recent court filings.
On March 30, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal “with prejudice,” meaning the case cannot be refiled, according to an order by U.S. District Judge James Browning. Browning formally granted the dismissal the following day, ruling both parties would be responsible for their own legal fees.
In the suit, Thomas said he was wrongly skipped over for promotion in May 2020 while he was the only African American in the security division at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Thomas claimed he was denied promotion because of his race. Nuclear Waste Partnership, an Amentum-BWXT team, said Thomas lacked the needed security clearance for the position.
Attorneys in the case did not respond to an Exchange Monitor inquiry as to whether the case had been settled.
In February, Nuclear Waste Partnership passed on its WIPP management responsibility to a new prime contractor, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors.
