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Richardson and Sternke, a married couple in their mid-50s, allege that Schmelz discriminated against them because of their age and because Richardson is legally blind. Soon after Sternke revealed in November 2015 that she planned to file a complaint with the US Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which investigates workplace bias, Universities Space Research Association (USRA) announced that her contract job with Arecibo's education programme would end early. Richardson filed his own EEOC complaint, and in April 2016, USRA terminated his employment as a staff scientist.

The EEOC ultimately found evidence of discrimination and that Sternke and Richardson were terminated in retaliation for their complaints, according to documents provided by the researchers' lawyer. [...] The EEOC report also says that USRA altered the description of the job Richardson wanted "to make it more suitable for another internal candidate to qualify". USRA subsequently promoted an Arecibo staffer in his 30s. [...] In its report on Richardson's case, the EEOC said Schmelz "made direct discriminatory age based comments", writing in her own performance evaluation that she had recruited "a set of effective young leaders".