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Veterans Affairs Lesbian Suggests Judge Bias in Harrasement Case

Melanie Nathan -7-18-10

San Francisco- A federal administrative judge has rejected claims by a lesbian former employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Oakland that she was fired after she spoke out against anti-gay harassment and a hostile work environment, Reports Matthew Bajko from The Bay Area Reporter Online .

In her comments to Bajko, Ann Williams, a California resident, who In June 2008 was dismissed from her job as a veterans service representative with the regional VA office, said: “I am so shocked by the decision and the blatant inaccuracies and biases the judge demonstrated,”

Williams, who represented herself in the case, told the Bay Area Reporter. “She had to bend over backwards to support her decision that I was not discriminated against. In fact she insinuates I was a racist and was as bad as the guy who was discriminating against me and I deserved what I got.”

Williams had filed the lawsuit with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after she was dismissed from her job as a veterans service representative.  Her allegations in the lawsuit ranged from co-workers sabotaging her performance records to anti-gay verbal taunts and threats of violence against her due to her sexual orientation.

Administrative Judge Caitlin A. Schneider ruled that not only had Williams failed to prove she had been subjected to a hostile work environment as outlined under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but also that she had failed to show that the ill treatment stemmed from her being part of a protected class under federal law, such as age, race or sexual orientation.

Having been told (inaccurately it turned out) by VA officials that she could bring an EEOC complaint based on sexual orientation, Williams said she had no reason to think she had to prove her ill treatment was due to a different protected category.   After having her claims rejected by the EEOC judge, Williams questioned if the agency would be equipped to handle sexual orientation based complaints should a federal pro-LGBT Employment Non-Discrimination Act be passed into law.

“With ENDA the whole point is to put sexual orientation under Title VII. Who enforces Title VII? The EEOC. If they don’t protect people now, they aren’t going to protect gay people either,” she said. “Something has to be done with the EEOC. You can’t take seriously their mission to enforce Title VII.”

There is another case pending before the same Court with similar facts, involving a straight women -  Lez Get Real will keep you posted as well.

My assertion is that this speaks yet again to the desperate need for inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity  in the Civil Rights Act, begging for an amendment to assert full LGBT equality on every level.  (See the new grass root release of The American Equality Bill 2010)

The Judge;

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

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