Federal employee discriminated against due to national origin. Complainant filed an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. Specifically, her supervisor required her to go through a second person for all communication with a contractor due to an alleged language barrier. The Agency issued a final decision without a hearing in which it found it had not discriminated against the Complainant. Complainant appealed.
On appeal, the EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations (OFO) held that the Agency had discriminated against the Complainant when it prohibited her from interacting with a contractor. Further, the OFO held that the Agency did not identify any specific communications that the contractor could not understand or any specific problems with Complainant’s language skills. Additionally, there was no evidence presented that anyone had any issue understanding the Complainant. As a result, the OFO held that the Agency was liable for discrimination and the case was reversed and remanded.
Genny L. v. Dep’t of Defense, EEOC Appeal No. 0120122795 (Feb. 23, 2016) https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/decisions/0120122795.txt
Federal employee attorney Kirk J. Angel handle federal employees claims of discrimination.