EEOC: Attig Law Firm Client prevails in discrimination claim
A client of the Attig Law Firm, PLLC, prevailed in her claims of discrimination against the United States Postal Service. Names of individuals involved and their locations will not be revealed at this time.
The client is a Rural Carrier Associate, and alleged that she was discriminated against on the basis of her race, age and sex, when the Agency issued a 14 day paper suspension, when she was denied the use of postal vehicles, when she was denied assistance on her routes, when she was denied prompt pay adjustments, and when she was required to submit medical documentation for certain brief absences.
The Postal Service, in this case, had advance notice of possible sex discrimination and/or sex harassment in the workplace, as a USPS Workplace Intervention Team had previously released a report illustrating the problems with this particular postmaster.
For example, the Workplace Intervention Analyst testified at hearing of complaints from over 21 employees, many of them female, that the male Postmaster in the USPS had waived a fire extinguisher around like a sex organ, that he had made comments about a particular employee not being able to keep her legs together, that he introduced a chiropractor to his male employees by telling them “she is not that bad looking either”, that he had made several comments in front of female employees about his “wee-wee”, and that the employees in this particular post-office felt that favorable treatment was given to those employees that were “young, blonde, and pretty”.
Particularly disturbing was the Analyst’s testimony that the Postmaster was evasive in his responses to the analyst’s questions, and that the Postmaster attempted to diminish the Workplace Improvement Analysis findings. Indeed, the Administrative Judge also found the Postmaster to be evasive, and concluded that the Postmaster’s testimony denying discrimination was not credible.
The evidence at hearing illustrated the race-based problems that exist at this particular Post Office as well. Only 5 black employees have worked at this particular post office in the past 3 years. One was fired, another resigned, another was transferred, and a fourth walked off the job. The fifth, our client, filed the EEO complaint in 2007 that led to this decision.
The EEOC Administrative Judge found that our client had successfully proved that the Agency’s proffered reasons for its action were a pretext for discrimination. The next step in the process will be discovery and petitions on the matter of damages, followed by the Administrative Judge’s rulings on the matter of damages.
Congratulations to our client - leading the charge against a discriminatory Postmaster has cost our client dearly in terms of health, money and reputation. She has has worked her heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
