Day & Zimmermann NPS, a provider of staffing services to the power industry, unlawfully retaliated against a worker who filed a disability bias charge with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sought to interfere with the rights of employees to communicate with EEOC, the federal agency charged in a lawsuit announced yesterday.

According to the EEOC, Day & Zimmermann NPS hired electrician Gregory Marsh to work during a power plant shutdown, and Marsh filed a charge with EEOC alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Day & Zimmermann NPS publicized Marsh's charge, including his name and details about the medical restrictions on his ability to work, to 146 members of his union local, the EEOC alleges. By publicizing Marsh's charge in this manner, Day & Zimmermann NPS sought to interfere with the rights of workers and witnesses to communicate freely with the EEOC and to file charges of their own, the EEOC lawsuit charged.

“Charges and communication with employees are critical to EEOC's role as primary enforcer of the nation's fair employment practices laws because they inform the agency of employer practices that might violate those laws,” said EEOC Trial Attorney Sara Smolik. “For this reason, the right to communicate with EEOC is protected by federal law.  When an employer punishes those who exercise that right, the employer is effectively seeking to silence employees who have information about potential violations of the law.”

The EEOC filed suit in US District Court for Connecticut, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.