The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has accused Shimmick Construction Co. of retaliating against a crane and lifting operations supervisor on the company’s Chickamauga lock replacement project in Tennessee because he complained about hostile treatment on the project.
The case is the latest in the EEOC’s campaign to eliminate the construct of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
Shimmick, the prime contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ lock replacement project near Chattanooga, is a union employer on the project.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville, EEOC claims the employee, an operations engineer who had been promoted to acting general foreman with responsibility for crane and elevator operations, was subjected to insubordination, intimidation and insults based on being a woman.
During Shimmick’s investigation into the alleged treatment and crude sexual assault at the project site, a man with whom she was engaged and who had worked on the project, provided information.
The EEOC alleges that Shimmick’s response to the alleged mistreatment was minimal and shortly thereafter, two supervisors who the EEOC alleges tolerated the mistreatment retaliated against her by ordering her to work a night shift and, if that it was not possible for him to resign.
Labor law considers actions that force an employee to resign to be a “constructive dismissal.”
A representative for the Irvine, Calif.-based contractor said in a statement that the company “strongly disagrees with the characterization of the facts alleged in this complaint” but beyond that cannot “comment on pending litigation at this time.” The company has never before been the subject of an EEOC complaint and has actively recruited and promoted women, the representative said.
The company maintains a resource group for female employees called Women at Shimmick.
“Shimmick, above all, has a long history of embracing diversity and fostering a culture that treats all employees with fairness, respect and dignity,” the company said. “We hold our teams to the highest ethical standards, with honesty, safety and professionalism central to everything. We do.”
