Two former Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory employees will receive nearly $360,000 in back pay and damages in a settlement over allegations of discrimination, though lab officials said they disagree with findings of a federal inquiry into the matter.
The U.S. Department of Labor said it received complaints in 2010 from two African-American women who said they had been subjected to a hostile work environment at the Laurel lab. When one of the women tried to pursue a complaint through the lab's equal employment opportunity process, she said she was harassed, retaliated against and eventually fired, labor department investigators found.
An investigation by the labor department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that the lab had discriminated against both women because of their race and retaliated against them for filing complaints. One of the women also was paid less than male colleagues in similar roles, the investigation found.
Hopkins officials said they disagree with the investigation's findings but felt that concluding the "long, drawn-out and costly process" was in the lab's best interest.
"As APL has been, we remain fully committed to diversity and inclusion," lab officials said in a statement.
Labor department officials said the lab has agreed to revise policies and procedures to prevent future harassment, intimidation, coercion and retaliation in its workplace, including training managers and other employees on federal equal employment opportunity laws.
From 2009 through 2014, the lab received more than $3.6 billion in federal contracts with the departments of defense, commerce and homeland security and other agencies, according to the labor department.
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