AmericasShipyards

Louisiana shipyard fined for retaliation against employee who brought discrimination case

A Louisiana shipyard will have to pay an undisclosed civil penalty fine and $15,000 in back pay to an employee who accused the firm of retaliating against him for filing a discrimination charge with the Department of Justice.

North American Shipbuilding, a part of Edison Chouest Offshore, came to an agreement with Justice to settle.

The case was set in motion when an employee at the company’s Larose, Louisiana yard, filed a charge with Justice’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC),

OSC is a branch of Justice that enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The complainant claimed that after he filed his first charge with OSC he was effectively punished by North American Shipbuilding which, for example, barred him from the company’s business facilities.

Apart from the financial penalties the settlement includes a requirement that North American Shipbuilding train its employees on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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