Racial discrimination claimed in Sandia suit

Asian woman at labs says she was harassed, scapegoated by manager

A lawsuit filed this month alleges that a woman was racially discriminated against in her work at Sandia National Laboratories.

Sunita Moonka argues in the lawsuit, filed in state District Court in Santa Fe, that she was harassed by a superior after being promoted to a management position around 2014.

Moonka had worked at Sandia since 2002, according to the complaint.

“For the first time since her employment, Ms. Moonka began to experience harassment at work, finding that she was excluded from meetings, denied information necessary to perform her job, and blamed for problems,” it reads.

According to the complaint, Moonka was the only Asian woman working in the office.

The lawsuit names Moonka’s supervisor, Julie Perich, and Sandia managing and operating contractor National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS) as defendants.

Moonka alleges that she witnessed Perich making derogatory comments about “non-white individuals” and “condoning mockery of individuals with foreign-sounding names” on several occasions.

After first complaining about her treatment to Perich directly, Moonka then complained to Perich’s superior, who she claims never followed up with her afterward despite promises to do so.

Perich also claimed that Moonka had performance issues, but Moonka was reportedly never given an opportunity to correct the alleged issues.

“Had Sandia and Ms. Perich’s real goal been to solve alleged problems, they would have included Ms. Moonka in meetings, communicated with her, and taken other reasonable steps to ensure that she was able to address the concerns they claimed to have,” the complaint reads.

Moonka was eventually offered the choice between resigning and being fired, she says. She resigned.

Moonka is requesting actual, compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.

Sandia declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation.

Moonka did file complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New Mexico Human Rights Bureau. Both issued orders of non determination on the complaint, according to the lawsuit.