National Grid worker files $35M federal lawsuit alleging discrimination

A veteran National Grid employee was subjected to repeated acts of racial and religious discrimination during his 16-year employment at the company, according to a $35 million federal lawsuit filed this week, which charges the company did little to address the complaints and ultimately fired him.

The 35-page complaint by crane operator Iszya Hanna, who is Black and a Muslim, points to what he alleges is a litany of harassment acts by company co-workers, managers and a contractor, a failure to punish those allegedly at fault, and his improper firing three years ago. Allegations include conspiracy, civil rights violations, discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation.

Hanna, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union who works for National Grid Engineering Services, part of National Grid Ventures, ultimately won an arbitration case and was rehired by the company 29 months later, the suit said. But National Grid has declined to pay him back wages and medical expenses as required by the arbitrator, the suit charged.

"It's been a real ordeal for me and my family," Hanna said in an interview. "All I ever wanted was peace, and instead I've been faced with abuse."

National Grid, in a statement to Newsday, said it does not comment on pending litigation. Spokeswoman Wendy Frigeria, in an email, added: "Our values require that every person be treated with dignity, fairness, and respect, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination in any form."

Hanna’s suit, filed in Eastern District court by the law firm of Frederick Brewington of Hempstead, alleges he was subjected to use of the racial epithets by fellow employees and contractors, forced to sit in a work trailer in which fellow employees placed a stuffed gorilla, and overheard comments during sexual harassment training about a fellow employee’s sexual desires relating to Muslim women wearing hajibs.

Hanna during his tenure at the company was the only Black man working as a crane operator in the company’s engineering services division.

He was fired in July 2023 after he reported that a fellow crane operator had left a job site without authorization, the suit said, causing the co-worker to become enraged after he and others reported it. Subsequent reports were submitted alleging that Hanna dragged the co-worker by the collar and "beat him up," the suit said. Hanna denied the claims but was suspended without pay while the employee who had been absent went unpunished, the suit said.

After more than two years of proceedings, Hanna prevailed in arbitration on Sept. 22, 2025, the suit said, and he was awarded medical expenses, back pay and other financial benefits.

But the suit alleged that National Grid hasn’t complied with those terms of the arbitration, failing to pay him back wages and expenses more than 14 months after the judgment.

After returning to work, the suit said, "when Mr. Hanna complained about continuing to be subjected to the presence of the people who falsely lodged complaints against him, Mr. Hanna was not acknowledged, but instead told to ‘move forward’ even though he was the person who was wrongfully terminated. ... It continues to be incredibly stressful, traumatic, and difficult for Mr. Hanna to continue to work around these individuals."

Hanna used his own accrued sick and other time to take leave of the job, starting July 10, the suit said.

In addition to $35 million, the suit seeks back wages and expenses, injunctions to force National Grid to "correct all past and present violations of state and federal law," to restore Hanna to positions he was "improperly denied," and to expunge false accusations from his record.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.