WWhen a supervisor allegedly made caustic comments to a quality control manager named John (not his real name), it set off a series of events that turned bad for the Army combat veteran hired to work in Albany, NY, and his employer, Kiewit Power Constructors.
John filed a federal lawsuit in 2024 accusing the supervisor and Kiewit of violating anti-discrimination laws that protect veterans and the disabled. The case is still in the preliminary stages, but it reflects some workplace complications surrounding how a supervisor deals with staff and the sensitivities needed with people with disabilities.
Similar workplace discrimination lawsuits involving other employees with special disabilities have erupted, including a recent case involving Terracon and a Gen Z engineer.
Kiewit Power Constructors, the defendant in John’s lawsuit, is owned by a subsidiary of Kiewit Corp.
According to the complaint, John’s 2004 deployment to Iraq involved fires and other combat scenarios that ultimately caused trauma that left him unable to perform his duties and ultimately led to his discharge in December 2005. The following years saw John unable to work, experiencing “housing instability” and eventually receiving a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress.
In 2022, John started a $124,000-a-year job as a quality manager for Kiewit Power Constructors, first in Kansas and then the following year in Albany. His manager in Albany, John alleged, first gave him the silent treatment, but then began making caustic comments and insults that included John’s weight and even that he used medication to treat his PTSD.
The comments were directed at “John’s struggles with mental health and related disabilities,” his complaint said.
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In 2024, another quality control specialist reported to the unit’s human resources director the allegedly discriminatory comments directed at or about John, according to his complaint. Instead of disciplining the supervisor, John’s administrators raised the issue of John’s transfer to another city, according to John’s complaint. He was later transferred to Texas, cutting him off from his family and home in New York, and resigned, he claimed.
This forced resignation is qualified by law as a “constructive discharge,” John said, a term often used to describe when an employee receives a change that forces them to resign. And he claimed that this action and his other treatment were violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New York State Human Rights Act.
Kiewit: The statements don’t add up
In August, Kiewit sought to throw out much of the lawsuit in a partial motion to dismiss, arguing that it failed to state a claim under the various laws involved, including those related to retaliation and constructive discharge.
The remarks made by John’s supervisor were neither frequent nor severe enough to qualify as harassment under the law or as a hostile work environment, another widely used legal standard in these matters.
Moreover, the alleged harassment was not directed at a condition that “qualifies as an ADA disability,” Kiewit argued. John also failed to exhaust administrative remedies available to Kiewit for his ADA hostile work environment claim, Kiewit said.
Federal court records have yet to show a response to the dismissal motion, with the case last filed in December.
