A former preservation technician at Bath Iron Works is suing the company for allegedly failing to provide reasonable accommodation for an on-site injury and assigning him “degrading tasks” because of his disability and race.

James Breaux, a Black resident of Morgan City, Louisiana, filed a federal discrimination suit in U.S. District Court on Friday, alleging that Bath Iron Works violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and terminated him because of his race after creating a “racially hostile work environment.”

Breaux’s is at least the second lawsuit filed against BIW over racial discrimination in the last year. In September, Aaron Martin, who is Black, filed a federal discrimination suit that claimed his supervisors and colleagues frequently hurled racial epithets at him, including imitating monkey noises, when he worked as a welder from 2018-21.

The court dismissed Martin’s lawsuit in late May, after it was “reported settled” in late April, according to court documents. Lawyers for Martin could not be reached Thursday evening.

David Hench, a spokesperson for BIW, said the company does not comment on pending litigation, referencing the latest suit. He did not reply to messages about Martin’s settlement.

Breaux is seeking compensation for future lost earnings, back pay plus lost benefits and compensatory damages, according to the suit. He is also requesting the shipyard be required to train all managers about the illegality of discrimination and retaliation.

Breaux was initially hired in July 2021 as a sandblaster, but he quickly began working as a preservation technician, a role in which he painted ships, sanded walls, and cleaned work areas within vessels under construction, according to the filing.

The lawsuit claims Breaux injured his back while lifting deck plates to clean a ship’s bilge in July 2023. An emergency room technician diagnosed Breaux as having a muscular injury and recommended that he avoid bending, using stairs and ladders or lifting things over 10 pounds for at least two days, according to the suit. Those restrictions were later expanded.

Breaux returned to work the day after the incident, according to the suit, and the symptoms of his injury continued to worsen.

Despite Breaux’s protests and instructions by the shipyard’s medical team, his supervisors pressured Breaux to “work beyond his restrictions” and complete degrading assignments, including vacuuming rainwater from the pavement – “an unusual, strenuous, and degrading job,” his attorneys wrote in the suit.

Breaux applied for family medical leave on Oct. 30 to rest “due to his back injury and mental impacts related to the injury and stress at work,” according to the lawsuit; two days later, the shipyard placed Breaux on leave, before terminating him Nov. 26.

Breaux could not be reached for comment Monday night, but Jeffrey Young, one of his attorneys in the case, said Breaux believes other workers, who had similar disabilities but are not Black, were not made to engage in acts like picking up waste or vacuuming rainwater.

Young and Margaret O’Neil, another lawyer representing Breaux, claimed in the filing that the initial “injury would not have occurred but for Mr. Breaux’s race.”

“Mr. Breaux is an individual with a disability who could have remained at work with a reasonable accommodation,” Young said on a Monday evening phone call. “They (BIW) also interfered with his ability and retaliated against him for attempting to take family medical leave.”

Breaux filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year, but later requested a notice of his right to sue, since the commission determined it was unlikely to finish its investigation within 180 days, according to court documents. That notice was issued April 29.

“Unfortunately, our government agencies are understaffed or overwhelmed by complaints of discrimination,” Young said. “Oftentimes, employees don’t want to wait for years.”

The Maine Human Rights Commission was automatically notified of Breaux’s complaint to the EEOC. In a letter Wednesday, Kit Thompson Crossman, executive director of the human rights commission, said “there is not sufficient evidence to substantiate (Breaux’s) complaint,” but reiterated his right to sue.

Young said he does not expect either letter to negatively impact the lawsuit.

“A jury has to make its own determination as to whether someone’s been discriminated or retaliated against,” Young said.

With more than 6,000 employees, the shipyard owned by General Dynamics is the state’s fourth largest employer, according to the Maine Center for Workforce Research and Information.