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. . . .

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) mayrequest any member of the Merit SystemsProtection Board to order a stay of anypersonnel action for 45days if OSC determinesthat there are reasonable grounds to believethat the personnel action was taken, or is to betaken, as a result of a prohibited personnelpractice. See 5 U.S.C. § 1214(b)(1)(A)(i)Investigation of prohibited personnel practices;

corrective action.

 Special Counsel Ex Rel Coleen Elmersv

 Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Docket Number CB1208-15-0007-U-1December 1, 2014 

FERGUSON: A Pain Too DeepA Federal Employee Perspective

Tanya Ward Jordan, Founder - C4C

The failure of a grand jury to indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who gunneddown Michael Brown, a black unarmed teen inFerguson, Missouri draws anguish, anger andagony from many Black Americans like myself.

 And, as if the Ferguson judicial blow wasn’t devastating enough . . . then comes theunfathomable news. A Staten Island grand

 jury permits a white police officer (DanielPantaleo)  to escape accountability in thechokehold death of Eric Garner. The grand jurydeciding the white officer’s fate turned a blindeye to witness accounts and video footageshowing how the officer used a “ banned” chokehold move to snuff the life out of a Black

 American male gasping repeatedly –  “I can’t

breathe.”  

 Within the federal government, Black Americans routinely face flagrant injustices.Quite often, the abusers (public officialsholding a wide variety of jobs including agents,prison guards, firefighters, and U.S. Marshals)receive no punishment. They are let off thehook in much of the same way the killers of

THE C4C FEDERAL E CHANGE THE COALI TION FOR CHANGE, INC. (C4C

MONTHLY NEWSLETTE

ISSN 2375-706X Volume 01 / No.2 December 2014

DEDICATION: 

C4C dedicates the December edition of TheC4C Federal Exchange to Michael Brown ofFerguson Missouri, Eric Garner of New Yorkand other Black American males who have

 been the fatal victims of excessive force by lawenforcement officers.

 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 

PROFILE OF COURAGE: Veteran Ralph Saunders 2

FEDERAL FOCUS: U.S. Departmentof Agriculture 4

 VIDEO: Blowing The Whistle OnCustoms Border Protection 8

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Eric Garner and Michael Brown were freed.No accountability. No justice. Hence, theuntimely and wrongful death of Garner andBrown by the overzealous hands of policeofficers using excessive force, summons aninternal pain almost too great to put into

 words. For I am, like other C4C members, a victim of abuse by a federal official who neverfaced discipline.

Black federal employees, who report internal workplace violations of the Civil Rights Act(CRA) of 1964 receive little, if any, protectionfrom abusers. In fact, the U.S. Department ofJustice (DoJ), the premier law enforcementagency many hope will conduct a fair criminalinvestigation of the Ferguson matter, is the

 very department that defends federal managers

 who abuse Black American employees andapplicants should they dare to raisediscrimination claims.

Few citizens beyond the Nation’s capital knowof DoJ’s  role to shield “federal officials,” whoare named as discriminating officials in EqualEmployment Opportunity complaints, shouldthe employee later file a resulting lawsuit infederal court. In fact, the DoJ’s  AssistantUnited States Attorneys (AUSA) operate muchlike the prosecutor in Ferguson. That is, the

 AUSA ’s goal is to bury the claim; not root outthe cause. For this reason, AUSA’s spendmuch time and taxpay er’s dollars vigorouslyseeking  ways to “dismiss lawsuits,”particularly those that might reflect badly on afederal agency. In the federal employmentarena, DOJ uses its legal saavy to insulate civilrights violators from facing jury trials. Theyroutinely file “ motion for dismissals”   or“ motions for summary judgment ”  whenresponding to a plaintiff ’s race based lawsuitagainst the government.

In the federal sector, Darren Wilson-types, arethose who “kill” without penalty. In the federalsector, abusers often kill the financial,emotional, pyschological and physical well-

 being of Black Americans. In some cases,deaths have resulted due to the stress imposedfrom being left in a hostile federal workplace.

TITLE VII: PROFILE OF COURAGE

 A Salute to Ralph Saunders,Federal Whistleblower

Ralph Saunders

Former US Marine Corps veteran, RalphSaunders once worked at the U.S.Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at theNew Orleans Medical Center. He worked forthe federal government for 21 years. Duringhis employment at the VA, racism andreprisal was so pervasive he had to file sevenEqual Employment Opportunity actions: five(5) complaints and two (2) appeals. Theactions were filed against the VA during hislast three years of employment after aCassandra Holiday, a proven discriminatingofficial, became his supervisor.

 Veteran Saunders is one of many who wasput on a “BLACKLIST”  and targeted forremoval after exposing civil rights violationsat VA. Saunders was unlawfully charged

 with absent without leave, leave without pay,denied sick leave and ultimately removedfrom federal service as a result of his

disclosure. Saunders won his last caseagainst the VA in 2004. The EEOC foundCassandra Holiday ,  Jeanette Butler,and Linda Cosey guilty of “abusing therules” in the Saunders “BLACKLISTINGcase: No. 200L-0629-2004100828Saunders awaits a decision from the EEOCre: Breach of Settlement Agreement.

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The DoJ’s  taxpayer funded counsel to bigotedmanagers fosters a culture that allowsnepotism, sexism racism and reprisal topervade the federal sector. Since the tragic“hands-up shooting” in Ferguson and theillegal “chokehold” homicide in New York,

men and women of all colors across the nationnow chant –  “Black Lives Matter.”  C4Cmembers, who have long sought to expose suchegregiousness as the blacklisting of veteranemployees by U.S. Veterans Administrationofficials, the denial of farm loans to Blackfarmers by U.S. Department of Agricultureofficials and the reprisal against Black U.S.Marshals by DoJ law enforcement personnel,have longed asserted – Black Lives Matter.

 While some view the DoJ as if the calvary ready

to right the Ferguson wrong, C4C members donot hold such fanciful notions. David Grogan,a retired supervisory Deputy United StatesMarshal and C4C member, has described a“combat zone”  culture within the DoJ

 workplace. Moreover, the DoJ was of no helpto the African American woman, a federalemployee, who received death threatsincluding a slashed up Aunt Jemima dolldrenched in simulated blood while working atthe U.S. Army Ft. Belvoir installation. Theperpetrator of various hateful acts was never

caught or brought to justice. Instead, theemployee (the victim) was fired after theagency refused to provide reasonableaccommodations to the Black American female

 who feared for her safety on an U.S. Armyinstallation. 

 As a victim of discrimination, I am haunted bymy past encounter with the DoJ, an agencythat committedly defended those who stuck mein a storage room and subjected me to variousforms of workplace abuse. Still, I am prayerfulthat the DoJ officials will operate with integrityto usher in the fairness which was sorelylacking in the Brown and Garner cases. Circa2008, I settled my race-based employmentclaims against the Department of Commerce.I recall sitting in the U.S. District Court of theDistrict of Columbia across the table from acheeky DoJ attorney. The DoJ attorney, whorepresented my employer (defendant) sat

chuckling in my face and in the face of mycolleagues, who sought to expose wide-spreadrace discrimination at the U.S. Department ofCommerce ( Janet Howard, et. al. v Pritzker) Fast forward to 2014. The same DoJ attorney,now visibly older and more hardened,

advances schemes  to undermine Title VII ofthe Civil Rights Act of 1964. The DoJ AUSAhas raised new arguments, never introduced

 before, to silence the longstanding claims ofJanet Howard, who once successfully proveddiscrimination against Commerce officials inthe late 80’s  and who filed the pending matterin 1994, some twenty (20) years ago.

The Justice Department also fought roughly 25 years to smother the legitimate race basedclaims of Matthew Fogg, an African-American

male, who was once employed by the U.S.Marshals Service (USMS) as a deputy U.S.Marshal. In this case,  Fogg won a landmark

 verdict against the DoJ proving racialdiscrimination against USMS. (Case 1:94-cv-02814-JAR). Presently, two other employmentrace-based class actions are in play against theDoJ’s USMS (Fogg v Holder, and Brewer vHolder)  See article. US Marshals Can't UseDukes To Nix Bias Suit 

In closing, the failure to hold anyone

accountable for the wrongful death of MichaelBrown or Eric Garner serves as a painfulreminder to C4C members that fifty years afterthe passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,Black lives don’t matter enough for the U.S.Department of Justice to rectify how toexpeditiously and judiciously root outinequality whether it is present in the streets ofFerguson or within the corridors of the federalgovernment.

C4C members comprise present and former federalemployees who have been injured due to unchecked

race discrimination and reprisal occurring in the federal employment .

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) isa cabinet-level agency that oversees the

 American farming industry. USDA duties rangefrom helping farmers with price supportsubsidies, to inspecting food to ensure thesafety of the American public. Despite itsnotable mission, USDA has a deep rootedhistory of discrimination that earned theagency the label -- the Last AmericanPlantation. The Public Broadcasting ServicePBS   website reports: “a  1964 study exposedhow the USDA actively worked against theeconomic interests of black farmers. TheUSDA's loan agencies denied black farmers

ownership and operating loans, disaster reliefand other aid. One practice was to deny creditto any black farmer who assisted civil rightsactivists, joined the NAACP, registered to vote,or simply signed a petition.” 

 A 2008 Government Accountability Office(GAO), report  found that the USDA’s civilrights efforts were marked by “significantdeficiencies.” The report found that USDAfailed to track and adjudicate civil rightscomplaints and failed to provide accurate data

regarding minority participation in USDAprograms. A GAO 2012 report discloses howthe USDA   has for decades been the focus offederal inquiries into claims of discriminationagainst minorities and women both in theprograms it administers and in its workforce.The  GAO’s 2012 report  asserts that the USDAimplemented some of its 2008recommendations; however, the report noted

that the USDA has been and continues to beinvolved in large civil rights lawsuits claimingdiscriminatory behavior on the part of USDA,including lawsuits brought by African-

 American, Native American, Hispanic, and women farmers. Mr. Lawrence Lucas,

President of the USDA Coalition of MinorityEmployees,  states –“things have gotten worsethan ever under the leadership of USDA ’sSecretary, Thomas Vilsack.” 

NO FEAR Data as of 9/30/2014.

The USDA, with its workforce totaling 85,396as of March 2014, submitted it’s  NO FEARdata disclosing that (as of 9/30/14) reprisal,race and sex discrimination were the mostcommon basis for complaint filings. Over a six

(6) year period, 3,119 EEO complaints werefiled by 2,889 complainants. The USDAreports it took on average 212 days tocomplete investigation thereby exceeding the180 days  for completing investigations ofdiscrimination as prescribed by 29 CFR1614.108 (f).

The 2014 USDA Employee Viewpoint Survey

USDA employees completed a survey that

disclosed the following results for questions 33,37 and 54 (where positive indicates agree orstrongly agree; neutral indicates neitheragree or disagree: negative disagree andstrongly disagree)

Q33.  Pay raises depend on how wellemployees perform their jobs: 16.4 Positive;27.1% Neutral; 56.4% Negative

Q37. Arbitrary action, personal favoritism andcoercion for partisan political purposes areNot tolerated: 53.84 Positive; 23.6% Neutral;22.7% Negative

Q54.  My organization's senior leadersmaintain High standards of honesty andintegrity: 43.9 Positive; 30% Neutral; 26.1%Negative

U.S. Department of Agriculture

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The VA Death Report

 According to U.S. Marine Corps veteran OliverMitchell, “thousands of orders for diagnosticmedical tests were purged en masse by theDepartment of Veterans Affairs to make itappear as if decade-long backlog was beingeliminated.”  See Mitchell’s narrative “BLOG” entitled Veteran Whistleblower Story ExposingCorruption.

“  A LLEGED”  DISCRIMINATINGOFFICIALS 

  James Tomscheck

Customs and Border PatrolCase HS-09-CBP-002184-00100

 Michael VrobelGeneral Services Administration

Case No. 12–5107 

CASE HIGHLIGHT

Performance Standards Upheld

 Salmon v. Social Security Administration,No. 2011-3029 (December 9, 2011),

 Victoria Salmon, formerly with the SSA,unsuccessfully argued to the Federal Circuitthat the Performance Assessment andCommunications System (PACS), theperformance appraisal system which governed

her performance plan, was unlawful. Sheasserted the following three reasons: 1) PACSfailed to adhere to Congress' requirement thatperformance appraisal systems be as objectiveas possible; 2) that her own performancestandards did not meet the criteria foremployee participation in their development;and 3) that PACS had not been legallyapproved by the Office of PersonnelManagement. Despite Salmon’s argument, theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuitaffirmed the Merit Systems Protection Board

decision upholding the Social Security Administration's removal of Salmon  fordeficient performance.

NOTE: Performance-based removals ordemotions, which are often wrongfully used toretaliate against employees who file EEOcomplaints, are difficult for employees tosuccessfully challenge in appeals. Hence, whenseeking relief federal employees should alsoconcentrate on procedural errors whenperformance-based actions are proposed

and/or taken against them.

Court of Appeals Upholds Lack of

Jurisdiction: Outside the Scope of Duties  

 Linda JACOBS, Appellant v. Michael J. VROBEL, Appellee 

Linda Jacobs, an employee of the U.S. GeneralServices Administration, sued her supervisor,Michael Vrobel in the District of ColumbiaSuperior Court for “ defamation and

interference with her attempts to securealternative employment.”   The United States

 Attorney General certified that Vrobel'sconduct was within the scope of hisemployment, therefore transferring the case to“federal”  district court and replacing theUnited States as the defendant. The district court concluded that Vrobel did in fact act

 within the scope of his employment and

LEARN MORE ABOUT USDA:

Congresswoman Speier Calls on USDA IG toInvestigate Allegations of Sexual Harassment andRetaliation in Region 5 Forest Service, Nov. 20,2014

Documentary: Last American Plantation

http://thelastamericanplantation.om/short-film/

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dismissed the suit as jurisdictionally barred bythe Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). On appeal,Jacobs argued that Vrobel's conduct wasoutside the scope of his employment. TheCourt of Appeals disagreed and affirmed the

district court's dismissal for lack of subjectmatter jurisdiction.

 Adverse Action

In Burlington Northern & Santa FeRailway Co. v. White, 126 S.Ct. 2405, 165

L.Ed.2d 345 (2006)

The U.S. Supreme Court established thatemployees may challenge “materially adverse”

 job actions as retaliatory under Title VII. Whatis a materially adverse job action? According tothe Court: “A plaintiff must show that . . . thechallenged action . . . might have dissuaded areasonable worker from making orsupporting a charge of discrimination.”

Claiming Discrimination: Cooperate

KOCH v. WHITE No. 12-5139

The court first articulated the link between thecomplainant’s obligation to "cooperate" andthe requirement that he exhaust his remedies:"A plaintiff’s suit  will be barred for failure toexhaust administrative remedies’ if he forcesan agency to dismiss or cancel the complaint byfailing to provide sufficient information toenable the agency to investigate the claim."Because the SEC made clear to Koch that itneeded his testimony and his medical records,and Koch refused to provide either, he failed toprovide the minimum information necessaryfor the investigation to proceed. (DecidedMarch 7, 2014).

The AfricanAmerican Voice Newspaper was incorporatedin November 1991. It is the longest running black monthly newspaper ever published in

Colorado Springs. CLICK  HERE. 

MUST READ 

Retaliation: How to Build and Prove A Case after Burlington Northern 

Maryland Employment Lawyers AssociationClick  HERE 

Organizational Corruption of the U.S.Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission(September 1, 2014)

Robert Stanton MartinClick  HERE 

A QUOTE FROM . . .

— Dr. David Michaels Assistant, Secretary of

Labor for Occupational Safety and Health 

 Making a living shouldn't have tocost you your life. Workplace

 fatalities, injuries, and illnessesare preventable. Safe jobs happenbecause employers make the

choice to fulfill theirresponsibilities and protect their

workers. 

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RTICLES

Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged! 

The book review by Mr. Dennis Moore, a C4Cmember and  Associate Editor for the EastCounty Magazine in San Diego East CountyMagazine book provides insight into the

publish book of Mary Elizabeth Bullock, former Administrative Judge with the EEOC. Book isentitled:  Judging Me: One Woman’s Journey From Abuse And Betrayal To

Tr iumph (November 30, 2014). 

C LL TO CTION

PETITION: Require Police to Report theNumber of People They Kill or Injure

PETITION: Justice for Eric Garner: Fire

Officer Daniel Pantaleo

BOYCOTT:  In response to the inaction ofcorporate leaders to the Michael Brown killing(and other Black youth), Onus Inc. announcesan economic boycott of: WalMart, EmersonElectric, Enterprise Rent A Car and more.LINK  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIHi5upxxy0 

WELLNESS WATCH

Federal workplace fatalities rose last year evenas the number of workplace deaths in theUnited States fell, according to Bureau ofLabor statistics reported in an article by theBaltimore Sun entitled:  Fatalities in federalworkforce increased, statistics show. Fatal

 work injuries among government workers at alllevels rose 5 percent to 476. But the federal

 workplace recorded a much sharper 19 percentincrease in fatalities to 124. Read more. 

Terminating Employees under FMLA 

 According to Findlaw.com, an employer mayterminate an employee on Family MedicalLeave Act (FMLA) status if a legitimate,nondiscriminatory reason for terminationexists. Examples given by Findlaw.com includethe following: “If an employee would have been

fired regardless of FMLA leave because of poor performance, then the employee may beterminated before, during or after FMLA leave.( Richmond v. Oneok ); and if, prior to the leave,an employee fails to meet the goals of acorrective action program designed to improve performance, then the employee may beterminated upon return from FMLA leave.” 

 SHARING THE WORDC4C’s Greetings Chair 

~Terri L. Williams

Greetings C4C Family!

 Here’s the Season for Rejoicing! Let UsCelebrate Each Day by FAITH!!

Isaiah 9:6-7 (KJV)6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son isgiven: and the government shall be upon hisshoulder: and his name shall be called

 Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, Theeverlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peacethere shall be no end, upon the throne ofDavid, and upon his kingdom, to order it, andto establish it with judgment and with justicefrom henceforth even forever. The zeal of theLORD of hosts will perform this.

May God Bless Us All,

Terri 

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( Hubbard v. Blue Cross Blue Shield Assoc. (1998).” Read more at Findlaw.com. 

IN TH N WS 

CLASS ACTION: Social Security Administration 

 A federal judge has approved a nearly $10million settlement of a class-action lawsuitfiled nearly a decade ago by a group of disabled

 workers against the Social Security Administration (SSA). The agency isheadquartered in Woodlawn and employs11,000 people in Maryland (Jantz v SSA). Readmore in article entitled: Judge OKs $10 millionsettlement for disabled Social Securityworkers (L. Mirabella, Baltimore Sun, Nov. 7,2014)

CLASS ACTION: Latino Claims Added toU.S. Census Bureau Discrimination

A New York federal court recently approvedthe addition of Latino applicants to a previouslycertified class action lawsuit. The suit allegesthat the U.S. Department of Commerce’s U.S.Census Bureau unlawfully screened out

hundreds of thousands of minorities fromtemporary jobs for the 2010 census.

“Monkey” Comment 

(Private Sector v Public Sector)

 A fueling company at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport where African workers were referred toas "monkeys" agreed to pay  $250,000 to settlea racial harassment lawsuit  brought by the U.S.Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

(D. Taylor, December 3, 2014) In a federal

complaint brought by an African Americanagainst the Department of Interior CraigLittlejohn, the white chief information officerin the department's solicitor's office, calledstaffers "monkeys" and improperly interferedwith the selection process for a job sought byan African American man. The agency wasordered to pay complainant $100,000 in

damages, plus legal fees (J. Davidson, Aug. 26,2010) 

FEATURED VIDEO:

 Blowing the Whistle on Custom’s  And

 Border Protection Agency

J. Gregory RichardsonRetired Lt. Commander, Naval Reservist 

Lt. Commander J. Gregory Richardson has

served the United States for over 30 years andis currently a Disabled Veteran who mostrecently worked for the  Department of

 Homeland Security's U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Veteran Richardson reports how hehas been discriminated against and evenharassed by his former employer. In 2010, hesuffered an injury during a pre-deploymentcombat mission. In Part One of the video, welearn the shocking story how a Veteran istreated by DHS. 

(VIDEO--click  HERE to view)

To read article about J. GregoryRichardson visit the African American

 Voice Newspaper [Click HERE] 

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H PPY HOLID YS!

Have you missed

 A C4C EXCHANGE newsletter?If so click  here. 

C4C Federal Exchange Newsletter is theleading Internet publication devoted toaddressing race discrimination and retaliationin the federal sector and all related EqualEmployment Opportunity topics.

December Issue NewsletterEXCHANGE

C4C Thanks … 

Contributing Members

Ms. Yolanda BellDr. Tiemoko Coulibaly

Mr. Isaac DecaturMs. Arthuretta Holmes-Martin

Dr. Keesha KarriemMr. Lawrence LucasMr. Oliver MitchellMr. Dennis MooreMr. Anthony Perry

Ms. Valerie Rose RedmondMr. J. Gregory Richardson

Mr. Ralph SaundersMs. Paulette TaylorMs. Diane Williams

Ms. Terri Williams

Publishing EditorTanya Ward Jordan 

Published by The Coalition For Change, Inc.(C4C) 

coalition4change.org ISSN 2375-706X