The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit Wednesday against Signal International LLC in U.S. District Court in Gulfport, Miss., alleging discrimination based on race and place of birth. The lawsuit seeks class action status for about 500 Indians who came to the United States on the H-2B guest worker program to take jobs as welders and pipefitters in Pascagoula, Miss., and Orange, Texas.

Signal International did not respond to messages left by The Associated Press seeking comment. In 2008, when Indian workers filed a lawsuit making similar allegations, the company called the accusations "baseless and unfounded." At that time, the company said federal officials had reviewed its employment practices and inspected its facilities and deemed them compliant with the law.

The 20-page EEOC lawsuit filed this week claims the agency uncovered numerous discriminatory practices. The lawsuit said Signal International forced as many 24 workers to sleep in bunks in unsanitary, one-room trailers in camps set up in industrial areas. The camps "were enclosed by fences and accessible only through a single, guarded entrance" where the workers were sometimes searched, the lawsuit said.