Construction and engineering firm Day & Zimmermann NPS Inc. successfully defended against retaliation claims filed by two welders who alleged workplace racial discrimination. In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, Judge Annemarie Carney Axon from the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama concluded that the plaintiffs, Nolan Jones and Christopher Samuel, failed to prove that their supervisors were aware of their respective Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints. Jones was dismissed three months following his EEOC filing, and Samuel was demoted from his foreman position after filing his complaint.
Judge Axon held that the plaintiffs did not present sufficient evidence to establish a “triable issue of fact” concerning the knowledge of the decision-makers about the EEOC charges, thereby granting summary judgment in favor of Day & Zimmermann. The company, which specializes in executing construction projects, maintains that the actions taken against Jones and Samuel were unrelated to their discrimination complaints.