EEOC: federal employee proves sex discrimination. Complainant filed an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and simultaneously filed a grievance with her union. After the initial investigation Complainant requested a hearing but ultimately withdrew the request. The Agency issued a final decision stating that the claim was moot as the filed grievance provided her with the relief she sought, and in the alternative, that Complainant failed to prove the Agency subjected her to discrimination as alleged. Complainant appealed.
On appeal, the EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations (OFO) first held that the Complainant’s union grievance did not render her EEO complaint moot as a matter of law as she requested compensatory damages in her EEO complaint which were not an available remedy in her union grievance. Additionally, the OFO held that the Agency discriminated against the Complainant when it gave her a light-duty assignment that changed her starting time but allowed four substantially similar male comparators who performed light-duty work to retain their normal starting times. The case was reversed and remanded for Complainant to submit evidence in support of her compensatory damages claim.
Tanya P. v. United States Postal Service, EEOC Appeal No. 0120160846 (Apr. 30, 2018) https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/decisions/0120160846.txt
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