WSMS responds to discrimination claim
A Savannah River Site employer accused of racial and religious discrimination by a former employee has denied any such conduct and said the employee was dismissed legitimately, in a response filed Monday in federal court.
URS Corp. safety watchdog Washington Safety Management Solutions (WSMS) is being sued for alleged discrimination against a former employee. Al Zeiny, 41, formerly of Aiken, now living in California, claims he was fired from WSMS three days after filing a complaint about his coworkers abusing him because of his race and religious practices.
In its response, WSMS claims it proactively deterred abuse toward any employee, and claimed an employee of any "religion, national origin or alleged protected activity," would have been fired as Zeiny was. Zeiny said he was singled out because of his Muslim faith and as someone of Egyptian decent. WSMS said it treated all employees equally and, specifically, acted to discipline Zeiny's co-worker when two derogatory e-mails linking Zeiny, his religion and culture to terrorism were reported.
"(Zeiny's) complaint was investigated, and the employee who sent the e-mail was disciplined," the response reads.
Zeiny claimed he was asked to sign a report after he was disciplined by the company. Zeiny said that the report was incorrect, so he refused to sign it. WSMS said the report was accurate, and Zeiny was fired for refusing to sign the report.
Zeiny admitted having unauthorized software on his company computer, namely the communication software Skype.
In its reply, WSMS said that action is worth disciplining any employee.
Zeiny also claimed he was racially profiled in one specific case when another person of middle-eastern decent interviewed for a job and he was asked if the pair were related. WSMS claimed this was mentioned because personnel had been told the pair were uncle and nephew.
The profiling extended to Zeiny's disk drive being sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation after he was fired, he claimed.
WSMS said in its reply that the FBI requested the drives.
Contact Mike Gellatly at mgellatly@aikenstandard.com.
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