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Two Richmond janitors have filed federal complaints against Nu-Tech Janitorial Services, accusing the company of disability discrimination and retaliation linked to their union activity.
Clarissa McGhee, a janitor at the Marshall Plaza municipal building, says she intermittently uses a cane due to arthritis but has never let it interfere with her work — until she allegedly stopped receiving shifts. According to McGhee, Nu-Tech manager Russell Dandridge told her, “don’t come with a cane.”
“My heart just dropped,” McGhee said in a phone interview with The Mercury. “I’m like, what does my cane have to do with me?”
McGhee described her cane as a necessary aid she occasionally relies on but insisted that it doesn’t hinder her ability to perform her job.
“It’s a part of me,” she said.
By early November,Nu-Tech instructed McGhee to clock out of a shift and return with a doctor’s note. After obtaining the note, McGhee brought it to the company the following week but was still sent home and allegedly told that her cane was “a liability.”
McGhee has since filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, citing violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. She also joined her colleague, Sharonda Smith, in a separate complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board alleging retaliation for union activity.
Smith said that the two women had posted a flier to generate interest in forming a union. Shortly after, she was informed in November that her position had been terminated in November — a move she believes was linked to her union involvement.
The Service Employees International Union’s regional chapter filed the labor complaint on their behalf and announced the action during a rally outside Richmond City Hall on Thursday.
At the rally, Smith shared her struggles since losing her job. A diabetic, she expressed concern about affording medical supplies not fully covered by Medicare and about keeping a roof over her family’s head.
“I expect to get eviction notices from the hotel where my family and I live because we can’t afford anything else,” Smith said. “I have to go to charities and food banks, but I shouldn’t have to do this because I enjoyed my job and I want work!”
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