Pipeline technician sues Alyeska, says employer fired him for backing harassment probe

Saxton then went through Alyeska’s internal channels. He contacted the Employee Concerns Program in March 2024 and filed a written complaint in April 2024 saying, according to the filing, that he was “extremely concerned about further retaliation and harassment tactics.” He sent documentation to a senior member of Human Resources. The complaint alleges Alyeska did nothing meaningful in response.

Discipline came instead. On or about November 27, 2024, the company convened a Disciplinary Review Board. The initial panel, according to the filing, included Woods himself, Woods’s superior, and another Alyeska manager. Woods was removed only after Saxton objected. The board demoted Saxton from Level 6 to Level 5 for twelve months with a reduction in pay, later cut to six months on internal appeal. A second board followed on March 25, 2025 over alleged time reporting deficiencies, procurement and process violations, and failure to follow directives.

In April 2025, the company moved Saxton off a two-week-on, two-week-off schedule onto a one-week-on, one-week-off rotation, requiring him to commute the 490 miles between his home in Soldotna and the terminal every week. The complaint alleges other technicians who had not raised concerns were not put on the same schedule.

On October 1, 2025, Alyeska told Saxton he was being included in a reduction in force. The complaint says the company’s stated criteria for selection included documented discipline – meaning the two boards Saxton alleges were retaliatory in the first place. He was terminated on December 5, 2025.

For HR leaders, the complaint reads as a chain of process questions: an investigation in which the supervisor allegedly identified the anonymous complainant, internal HR submissions allegedly used against the complainant inside disciplinary proceedings, a disciplinary panel originally seated with the supervisor accused of retaliating, and a RIF that carried a contested disciplinary record forward. Saxton filed his EEOC charge on January 27, 2026 and received a Notice of Right to Sue on February 3, 2026.