The
Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C), a civil rights advocacy group founded to
support present and former federal employees injured due to workplace
discrimination and retaliation, seeks an end to the escalating discrimination
and reprisal activity present in the Obama administration. According to a report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC), during fiscal 2010, 17,583 federal employees and job applicants filed
discrimination complaints, a 3.8 percent increase from the previous year.
To
spur federal workplace accountability, C4C members recently announced its
Responsible Management Officials (RMO) page.
Philip Taylor, President of C4C, asserts that "C4C's RMO page promotes
more transparency with regard to complaints filed against federal
managers." The RMO page lists persons named in employment discrimination
court proceedings, published articles, or administrative case proceedings.
According to Taylor, "While not all management officials cited have been
proven guilty of alleged acts of discrimination or reprisal, all have
been named in complaints representing a failure to resolve employment claims
expeditiously, at the lowest level of the administrative level and in the best
interest of the taxpayer." Taylor added that the complaints had withstood
various agency attempts to quash them at the administrative level or in court,
and were considered to have merit.
According
to C4C founder, Tanya Jordan, "It is time to disrobe the anonymity that
the federal government provides managers and supervisors who engage in
workplace discrimination, retaliation, bullying or prohibited personnel
practices." Jordan says she became ill after her Commerce supervisor,
Barbara Retzlaff, continously ignored her medically supported reasonable accommodation
requests and assigned her to a poorly ventilated refurbished storage area. Jordan had been active in the race-based class complaint
against the U.S. Department of Commerce (Howard, et.al vs. Gutierrez Case No. 1:04-cv-00756).
Jordan explains managers often fail to resolve legitimate employee issues given
the "anonymity" an EEOC requirement affords managers. Jordan references the EEOC Management
Directive 110 requirement that directs federal employees to name the "official
agency head" or "department head as the defendant" when filing a
complaint.
"Accountability
starts with naming names of the actual discriminating official," says
Edgar Lee, a C4C member and a Gulf War Veteran who was also denied reasonable accommodations by U.S. Department of Commerce officials. After Mr. Lee filed a discrimination complaint, reportedly Mr. Fred E.
Fanning, Ms. Jana Brooks and Mr. Mario Aquino," who bore the responsibility for mismanaging HCHB asbestos conditions," subjected Mr. Lee to "potential
exposure to impermissible levels of airborne asbestos." See Office of
Special Counsel letter to President Obama, dated
June 10, 2011 (p.3).
In populating the RMO page, C4C has garnered support from various civil rights groups. "We will give C4C all the support needed to achieve our mutual objective," says Mr. Lawrence Lucas, President of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Coalition of Minority Employees. "Managerial accountability is sorely needed at the USDA. Exposing the identities of the responsible management officials may curb the unceasing sexism, racism, reprisal, intimidation, sexual assaults, and other civil and human rights violations against USDA employees and minority farmers," Lucas states. In October of this year, Mr. Lucas invited C4C members to join the Black farmers and USDA employees at the "Filibuster for Justice" held to protest retaliation within Agriculture. (See photo below.)
"The
No FEAR Coalition also supports C4C's RMO page initiative," says Dr. Marsha
Coleman-Adebayo, Chair of the No FEAR Coalition. "Despite the passage of the
Notification and Anti-Retaliation Act (No
FEAR) of 2002, our public officials continue to retaliate against employees
who expose civil rights violation." In 2000, a jury found the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) guilty of race, color and sexual discrimination against
the former EPA scientist (Coleman-Adebayo vs. Browner Case 98-cv-926 and Case 98-cv-1939).
Dr. Coleman-Adebayo says, "Employees find themselves in
a harrowing position when at some point
in their career, policies, procedures and practices run afoul of common human
decency and the powerful victimize the powerless."
"As we populate the RMO page and explore strategies to curb the escalating levels of reprisal and race discrimination, largely against African-Americans in the federal government, C4C is grateful for the support of Dr. Coleman-Adebayo, Chair-No FEAR Coalition and Mr. Lawrence Lucas, President-USDA Coalition of Minority Employees," says Jordan, C4C founder.
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