Mission Support Alliance, the Hanford Site support services contractor, was sued Friday in Benton County Superior Court for alleged discrimination against a former senior project manager. Also named in the lawsuit filed by Julie Atwood were Steve Young, the MSA vice president of portfolio management and mayor of Kennewick, and David Ruscitto, the former MSA chief operating officer. Atwood claimed in the suit that she was targeted for investigation and ultimately forced to resign after Young mistakenly believed she sent an anonymous complaint to human resource officials alleging that Young was creating a hostile work environment.
MSA launched an investigation of both Atwood and Young, with the probe of Atwood focusing on her timekeeping, according to the lawsuit. When investigators asked Atwood, the project manager of environmental regulatory and waste management, about Young she said he treated male and female employees differently and also alleged that he was doing Kennewick city business on MSA time, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said approximately seven days after the investigation was launched, Atwood was told by an investigator that no issues had been found with her time cards. However, later that day Atwood was pressured to resign under threat of being fired and losing her benefits, according to the lawsuit. MSA declined to comment, Young did not respond to a request for comment and Ruscitto could not be reached.
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