Tyson Foods, Inc. has filed a motion to dismiss a discrimination suit involving the company’s Ashland, Alabama, poultry plant, company officials reported today. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit concerns allegations made in the summer of 2003 involving a restroom in a maintenance building at Tyson’s Ashland plant. The suit claims that over a few weeks, the restroom was locked and accessible to only a few white workers who had obtained keys. It also alleges that some unidentified person marked “whites only” on the restroom door and that this marking remained on the door for a brief period of time. Company officials say Tyson management did not authorize, condone or see the posting of any sign or piece of paper with the words “whites only” and that discrimination is not tolerated in the workplace at any Tyson location. The company has also retrained all Ashland workers on the company’s policies on discrimination as well as dignity and respect in the workplace. There have been no additional allegations since 2003 that any Tyson worker has restricted access to any restrooms at the plant. Tyson officials note that the EEOC's Birmingham office chose to file suit against the company even though the agency's investigators never visited the plant, interviewed anyone from Tyson's management team or responded to company attempts to resolve the matter.