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POCATELLO – Charges of discrimination have been resolved against a major contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Battelle Energy Alliance, which manages INL, agreed to a $5 million settlement agreement over multiple complaints of workplace discrimination. These were brought forward by more than 100 people, who accused INL of “denying accommodations for their sincerely held religious beliefs and/or disabilities under the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy,” according to a news release from the EEOC.
“I commend the EEOC’s field teams for their unwavering dedication, and I appreciate Battelle Energy Alliance’s willingness to resolve these serious allegations,” said EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas.
The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing federal employment laws and investigating allegations of workplace discrimination. The agency enforces statutes prohibiting discrimination based on religion and disability, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
According to the release, the case stemmed from discrimination charges filed in 2021 by these employees, who alleged that BEA had discriminated against them because it “denied employees religious and/or disability accommodations to the company’s vaccine mandate policy.”
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The employees alleged that BEA did this through the means of “unlawful medical inquiries, denial of accommodations, and in some cases, termination.”
EastIdahoNews.com requested additional information from the EEOC, asking for a broad list of what religions and/or disabilities exempted the employees from the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We will decline to add anything beyond the release,” the EEOC replied in a written statement.
“Battelle Energy Alliance has always been committed to complying with workplace laws and maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for everyone. While BEA disagrees with the EEOC’s determinations and denies any violation of Title VII or the ADA, BEA believes resolving this matter is in the best interest of its employees,” said Kimberly Evans Ross, Battelle Energy Alliance general counsel in a written statement.
Andrea Lucas was an EEOC commissioner when the complaints were made.
In the release, Lucas says, “Let me be clear: there was no pandemic exception to workers’ civil rights and liberties. Absent undue hardship, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation for sincerely held religious beliefs and qualifying disabilities.”
Fifteen additional individual charges of discrimination were later filed by others who worked at BEA facilities in Idaho Falls. This agreement also resolved those charges.
“Denial of religious and/or disability-related accommodations, absent undue hardship to the employer, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on religion, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability,” according to the release.
The release also does not clarify on what religious or disability-related grounds these individuals were discriminated against.
EastIdahoNews.com filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the complaint that led to the charges.
This agreement was reached through a pre-litigation conciliation process, which enabled both sides to resolve the matter before a lawsuit was filed in federal court. This is a three-year agreement in which BEA will pay $5 million in “back pay and compensatory damages to the aggrieved individuals,” the release says.
Additionally, BEA will be required to train human resources personnel on religious and disability-related accommodation requests.
The release says that BEA chose to resolve the issue willingly and without admitting guilt “to avoid an extended dispute.”
“America’s workplaces must remain open to employees of faith, and to workers with disabilities, regardless of circumstance,” Lucas says.
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The post Discrimination complaints at INL over COVID-era vaccine policy resolved with $5 million settlement appeared first on East Idaho News.
