In a suit pending Monday in federal court in Chicago, the scientists charge they were victims of discrimination and cite as proof 26 of 29 promotions going to women or minorities in a four-year period that ended in 1993.
"I think they started out with good intentions, trying to redress an imbalance, but now if you're a white male, your chances of promotion are virtually nil," geologist John Kasprowicz, who said he was paid $95,000 a year to do virtually nothing for nearly two years, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "Two wrongs don't make a right."
The seven Argonne employees participating in the suit are seeking back pay, promotions and $300,000 each in damages. A trial is expected to begin later this year.
The Argonne lab is run by the University of Chicago. Kasprowicz said he thinks the discrimination began in the early 1990s when he and 44 other mostly white men were shunted to a new division in 1995 that placed them in a bureaucratic limbo. More than half of those transferred were given no significant work, and many quit.
"They stick you in a place where you're going to waste away, and sooner or later you leave," Kasprowicz said. "This was the process they used to eliminate us."
Kasprowicz at one point sent copies of his timesheets documenting his lack of work to DOE's inspector general. As a result, he was assigned projects.
DOE spokesman Brian Quirke denied the division was a "dumping ground." Rather, he said, it was formed to provide a pool of experts on whom other department could call.
Frederick Wysk, a civil engineer with 35 years of experience, said the discrimination was "pretty obvious."
"It was a bullpen, a holding department for people to do nothing," Wysk said. "I'd spend maybe an hour or two a day in actual productive work. My supervisor ... would come around and say, 'When are you going to retire, old fellow?' or 'What are you still doing around here?'"
Wysk accepted a buyout and is not part of the lawsuit.
Quirke claimed that Wysk's complaints were investigated and that no discrimination was found.
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