oliver mitchell eeo

8/11/2019 Oliver Mitchell EEO

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OFFICE

OF

RESOLUT-ON

MANAGEMENT

EQUAL

SMPLOYMENT

OPPORTUNITY

COMMISSION

{5t

before

the

--T-

I

OTIVER

I

I

BRUCE

MITCHELL,

CompIa:nant,

vs.t

I

THd

SECB.ETARY,

DEPARTMENT

OT

VEdERANS

AFFIAIRS,

VIASHINGTON,

D.

d.

-

FACTLTTY:

\rA GREATER

rod

ANGELES

HEALT.HCAF'E

SYSTEM

ta$en

by

9:

00

a.rfl.

CASE

NO:

200P-

c

69L-200

91"

02

5

7

0

RANCES:

dte

I

I

I

PEA

ST

AP

the

EEO

Invest,igator,

commencing

at

the

hour

of

on Thursday,

October

29,

2OO9,

telephonically'

,

Certified

Shorthand

Reporter

in

and

for

of

CaIi

fornia

-

rhe

Office

of

Resolution

Management:

EEO

INVESTIGATOB.

BY:

151fL

Plununer

St.,

BIdg,

t

,

Rm.

B2Cl1

Sepulveda,

CA

91343

F"I

PAGE

1 OE

l.O9

PETER.SON

REPORTING

-184-

1

dZO:?O

60

tO

I,UEST

LOS

ANGELES

'

Responden:s.

TELEPJIONIC

AFFIDAVTT

OF OLIVER

BRUCE

MITCHELL

7'd

zt,te?gl t96 t

Jool

esrl

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)



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t9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

BY MS.

0

I'

It

is October

29t]n,

2A09

at the Office

of Resolution

Management,

V{e

stern

Operations,

Los

Angeles,

California.

This

IS

/

EEO Investigator

in the

discrimination

case

of

Oliver

Bruce

Mitchell versus

the

Secretary,

Department.

of

Veterans Af

fairs,

Washington

D.

C. Facility

j-nvolved

i-s the

VA

Greater

Los

Angeles

Heal-thcare

System at

West

Los Angeles.

Case

No

.

200P-0

697-200

9102510

. f

am taki-ng the

sworn

telephonic

af

f

idavit of Oliver

Bruce

Mitchell- as

Complainant.

Mr.

Mitchell,

my

role as investigator

is that

of

a

neutral fact,-fi-nder,

f

do not represent

you

r

or

the

VA, nor

will

I

be

making

a

recommendation

or determination

in

this

matter.

I

witl

be

asking

you

questions

under oath

without

a

pledge

of

confidence.

So

you

need

to understand that

your

affidavit

may

be

shown

to the interested parties to this complaint.

You have

the

right

to

have

a

representative

present..

Do

you

have

or

want

a

representative

present?

A Yes.

us-It

Will the representative

please identify

and.

spelling

your

first

and

last

name.

ourself

by stating

vrs.It

--

First

name

i=I,

PETERSOi{

REPORTING

-185-

rast name-f

PAGE

2

OE

10 9

2



3

1051.

4

5

6

1

9

10

11

90073.

72

13

MS.I

MS.I

And

you

are a

unj-on representative?

Yes.

I

am the

vice

president

of

local-

And

that's

AFGE?

Yes,

AEGE.

MS.

f

:

The

union

address.

MS

.

I:

p.

O.

Box

84922

Los

Angeles, Calif ornia,

frfS.

I

us.It

MS.

Ilt

P.o.

Box

do

you

want

my mailing address

B

or

address

where I

work?

MS.

I

MS.I

MS.

f

And

your

address,

please.

MS.

It

And

your

phone

number?

Area

code

(310)

417-0184.

Thank

you.

15

BY MS.

ft

L6

O

Mr. Mitche11,

you have

the right to a

copy

of

your

Ll

affidavit for review

and any necessary

graflmaLical

or spelling

18

corrections.

And

at the end

of

your

affidavit/

I

I

l-1

explain

the

19

guidelines

involved

j-n

receiving

a copy.

20

Do

you

have

a copy

of the accepted

claims

and events?

2L A

Yes.

22

23

0

Theref ore

f

'm

going

to

waive

the

readj-ng

of

the cl-aims

2

4

and event s

j-nto

the

record

at thi

s time

,

ds

I

wi

1I

go

over

each

PETERSON

REPORTING

-186-

25

PAGE 3

OE

10

9



1

2

of them during

your

testimony.

However,

I

wanted

to

3

consolidated

Event

1 of Claim

4

Event

2 of

Claim

A

with

Event

Iet

you

know that

I

have

A

with

Event 29

of Claim

B,

and

30

of

Claim

B.

5

6

7

AS

FOLLOWS:

B

9

THE

CLAIMS AND EVENTS

ACCEPTED

FOR

INVESTIGATION

ARE

Claim

A

-

Disparate

Treatment

Whether' Complainant was

treated

differently

on the

Event 2:

On

June

5, 2009, effective at noon, he

was

authorized

absence.

(Same

as

Claim

B, Event

30)

Claim

B Hostile Work

Environment

Whether

on the

bases of race

(African

American)

,

color

Event

1:

February

2008,

,

MRI

PAGE 4

OF 10 9

PETERSON

REPORTING

-187-

10

bases

of race

(Af

rican

American)

r col-or

(black)

, gender

(ma]e

)

,

11

and/or reprisal

for

prior

EEO

activity as

evidenced

by:

L2 Event

1: On

June

B, 2009,

he

was

detaifed

to

13

unclassified duties

in Primary

and

Ambulatory Care,

not

to

74 exceed

60

days,

pending

complet,ion

of

an administrative

15 investigation

(

fact-finding)

(Same

as Claim

B/

Event

29)

5

6

Ll

placed

on

1B

L9

20

24

25

21

(bIack)

,

gender

(male

)

,

and,/or reprisal-

f

or

prior

EEO

act

j-vity,

22

Complainant

was

subj

ect.ed

to

a

hostile work

environmenL

23

(non-sexual)

as

evidenced

by:



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

technologist,

made

rid

of

Complainant,

him

outside

"whoop

Event

2

z

was

not

allowed

to

a bet with

anoLher employee

that

he

could

get

and

threatened

him

by

sayj-ng

he

should

take

his ass.

"

February

3,

2008

through

June

l,

2A08,

he

take

his

daily

lunch

breaks

because

his

2008

to

June

2008

|

change

his tour of

duty.

Event

4:

February

2008

to June

2008,

72

daily

denied

his

requests

to work

overtime

or

earn

compensatory

13

time.

supervi

s

or

,

his coworker,

to four hours each day.

Event

3':

February

daily denied his requests to

Event

B: May

2008,

Administrative Officer,

dllowed

to

be

out

of the

office

for

up

Event

5 :

May

5,

2008,

told

him that

he

15

should

seek a

reassignment

to another

service

and that

he would

L6 find

more

opportunities in private industry;

and

subsequently

71

she sent him e-mails about

other

j

ob

training.

L4

18

Event

6z

May

5,

2008, denied

his

79

request

to

l-eave

15

minutes

early in l-ieu of having

missed

his

20

break;

and

then subj ected

him

to sarcastic

remarks.

2L

Event

J

z May

6, 2008,

harassed

him

by

22

sending an

e-mail

message

notifying

him

of a meeting

that

was

23

scheduled

for

the

following

day.

pufled

him

out

of

a4

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-188-

PAGE 5 OF

10

9

5



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

t4

15

t6

L1

1B

79

20

27

22

23

24

25

timekeeper training

class

to

attend.

Event

9:

December

6,

"ff

you want

to get

anywhere

in

ass.

tt

Event

10:

January

9,

take

any

action

when

he reported

saying that

he

had

a

gun

in

his

out

s ide

'

so

he cou'Id shoot

him

.

which

she had

previously

approved him

2008,

t

old him,

kiss

my

he

VA,

you have

to

2009,

that

car and that

he

failed

to

threatened

him;

wanted him

to

go

Event

11:

January

2009,

request

to

attend

Planetree

traini-ng.

Event L2: January

2009,

request

to attend

Systems

Redesign

Training.

Event

13: Eebruary

9, 2A09,

take

any

action

when he reported

that

him.

denied his

denied

his

f

ai]ed to

again

threatened

Event 74:

March

24,

2009,

Service

Chief,

made a

derogatory

statement

about

"techs"

becoming a

l-ittle host.ile;

which

he believed

was

directed

at

him.

During

the

same

meeting,

she

said

that his

(Compla

j-nant

'

s

)

issues

were

addressed so she

would

not

take

any

action,

and

that

was

detailed

to the department

because

she

is a

"fresh

face"

and

a woman

can do the

job

better.

Event 15: April

6, 2009,

berated

him

PAGE

6 OF 10

9

PETERSON

REPORTING

-189-

6



1

2

3

4

5

6

l

and

his coworker,

the

front desk.

for

not

providing

coverage

for

she should

not tell,

him

that

she

was

and

she also st,ated,

"you

know

how he

Event

76:

April

76,

2009,

he

overheard

say

to

going

is.

"

that

to

timekeeper

class,

Event, l7 z April

2 , 2009,

8

about

his

"hostile

work

environment" and stated,

"I

9

to

you

dbout

your

little

situation, it

would

be

in

10 interested";

which he

perceived

as

a threat.

berated

him

need

to

talk

your

best

11 Event 18

:

April

21

,

2009,

hel-d a staf

f

L2

meeting in

whi-ch

she

singled

him

out

and blamed

him

for the

13

clinic' s

failure

and

problems,

including

saying

t.hat

he has

made

L4

the clinic

inaccessibfe, and that

he should

Let

"| fdo

15

what

she

was brought

over

to

do."

76

Event t9z

May

lt

2009,

again

threatened

L1

him; and although

he reported

it,

to

date,

management

has

not

18 taken

any

action.

19

Event

20: May B,

2009

|

called

to

inform

20

him

that

she

had a solution to their

problem;

whi-ch

was

to

move

2L him

to a

closet

in

building

500

away from

everyone

e1se.

She

22

told

him

that

if this

did not

work,

she

would

put

him

in the

23

area

with

PAX,

ds

she

did not

know

what else

to

do,

and

that

it

24 is

easi-er

to

get

rid of a schedul-er

than

to

lose

a

tech.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-190-

25

PAGE

'7

OE

10

9



a----r/

Event 27:

May

77,

about

hi

s

lunch schedul-e

and

Event

222

May

13,

2009,

berated

him

not

providing

coverage.

2009,

after

he

suggested

that they

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

74

15

16

71

18

L9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

rotate

I

rm

not

cl-inj-c

duties,

Ms.

said, "I

won|t

work here.

a

slave

and

you

don

I

t

tel-l

me

what

to

do.

"

Then

said that.

she

was

in agreement

with him;

however,

objected

that they should

modify the

Ms.

because

Ms.

rotati-on.

Event

management

had

move

two desks

Ms.

Ms.

to

2'3: May

26

,

2009

,

he

became

aware

that

decided

to

modify

their

previous

agreement

to

up

f ront,

and al-ternate

dut

j-es

between him and

Event

24: May 26,

2009, he

became

aware

that

had

not

been

truthful

about

receiving

permission

rotate

their duti-es

f rom

the

union.

Event

25:

May

28,

2OOg,

he

overheard

Ms.

II

tell-

Mr.

that

he

should take

a

detour

from him,

not

get

stereotyped

with

him,

and that

in hj-s

past,

if

you

know what

I mean."

to

think

about his

kids,

and told him

Complainant

being

EEO

drj-ven,

she had

prepare

a

request to

rotate

them.

"he

has

his

own

skeletons

She

cautioned

ltr.

I

that

as

a

result

of

to ask

Human

Resources

to

Event 26:

May

28, 2009, when she

gave

him

his

mi-d-year

performance

review,

Ms.

-stated,

"You

should

PETERSON

REPORTING

-191-

PAGE

B OF

]-09



1 take

the

medical-

coder

class

offered at the

VA,

because

outside

2 hospitals are

paying

big bucks

for

coders."

Event

21:

June

4,

2009,

Dr.

f

berated

him

4

about an

overbooked

research

patients.

Event

2Bz

June

5,

2009,

Dr.

Idenied

his

6

request

to

have a

union

representative present

before she

1

proceeded

with their meeting.

Event

29

:

June

5,

2009

,

he

received

noti-f

ication

that

9 effective

June 8,

2009, he

was

being detailed

to unclassified

10 duties, not to

exceed

50

days,

in

Primary

and

Ambulatory

Care,

11

pending

completion

of

an

investigation

into affegatj-ons

of

12 inappropriate conduct.

(Same

as

Claim

A,

Event

1)

.

13

Event

30:

June

5,

2009, he received

notification

'

L4 that,

effective

at noon, he

was

placed

on

authorized

absence.

15

(same

as Claim

A, Event 2)

15

L]

BY

MS.

18

O

Mr.

Mitchell, do

you

solemnly

swear

or

affirm under

19

the

penalty

of

perjury

that

the

information

yourre

about

to

give

20

is

true and complete

to the

best

of

your

knowledge

and belief?

2l

A

Yes.

22

23

O

Thank

you.

24

25

V{oul-d

you

please

state

and spel1

your

complete

name ?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-1

92-

PAGE 9 OF

10

9



1 A Oliver

Bruce Mitchell.

Eirst name

is

Oliver

2

O-I-i-v-e-r,

middle name is

Bruce

B-r-u-c-e,

last name

is

3 Mit,chell

M-i-t-c-h-e-1-1.

4

5

0

And

you

go

by

"Bruce"?

6

A

Yes.

1

B

0

And

for

the

record,

would

you

please

state

your

race?

9 A African'

'American.

10

11

O

And

your

color?

1,2 A Bl-ack.

13

L4

O

And

your

gender?

15

A Male.

t6

Ll

O

And do

you

have any

prior

EEO act.ivity?

18 A

Yes.

t9

20

0

Can

you

tell

me what

the

prior

EEO

activity

consisted

2L

of?

22

A

Oh,

so long ago.

23

24

O

Did

you

file

an

EEO

complaint

in the

past?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-193-

25

PAGE 10 OE

109

10



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10

11

72

13

74

15

76

71

1B

23

24

25

O

A

A

Say that

again.

O

Did

you

file

another

EEO

complaint

in the

past?

A

Yes.

0

Do

you

recal

l-

when

that was

?

A April/May

2005.

O

And

what

is

the status

of

that complaint?

A I

guess

closed.

The

case

is

closed.

O

And

who

were

t.he management

officials

involved

in

that

complaint

?

A was

the Nurse Manager.

And

I don't

remember who her boss

was

at

the time.

79

last

name

i=

I

20

2

O

22

Veterans

And when

were

you

first

hired

Affairs?

At this

facility?

first

and

last

name,

please?

by

the

Department

of

Can

you

spe1I

the

The

first name is

,

and the

PETERSON

REPORTING

-194-

A

PAGE

11 OF

10

9

11



1

O

No,

by

the

VA?

2

A

In

general?

3

4 O

Right.

5

A

Approximately

somewhere

between

June and

July 2004.

6

1

O

Okay.

And

how

long

have

you

been

at the

VA

Greater

9 Los

Angeles

Healthcare

System?

10

11

A Since

February 2008.

72

O

And what

is

your

current

position,

ti-tle,

and

grade?

13

L4

A

Patient

Services

Assistant,

GS-5,

step

two.

15

0

In what.

department.

?

76

L7 A Primary

and Ambulatory

Care.

18

O

And

how

long have

you

been in

your

presenL

position?

L9

20 A Since

June 5th

2L

22

23

24

25

MS.

I:

Excuse rre

r

can

I confer?

-

e'1I

go

of

f

the record,

I.

(A

pause

j-n

the

proceedings.

)

PETERSOiV

REPORTING

-195-

PAGE 72

OE'

10

9

t2



It

I,

wetre

back on

the

record.

2 BYMS.-

3

O

And

how

long

have

you

been in

your

present

position?

4 A

Since

June

5th

,

2009

.

And

this

j-s

the position

from

5 the detail.

6

1

O

Okay.

But

how

long were

you

in have

you

been

in

with

9 Ambulatory Care?

10 A I've

been

with

Ambulatory

Care

since

the

beginning of

11

reassignment

or

the detail

which

was

June

5th,

'09.

12

13

O

Where

were

you prelviously?

74

A

Imaging/X-Ray

Department.

15

L6 O

What

was

your

position

there?

L1 A Patient Services

Assistant.

18

19

O

AIsoaGS-5?

20 A

Yes.

2t

22

O

And how

long

were

you

in Imaging?

23

A From

February

2008

until June

5th

,

2OOg.

24

25

PAGE

13 0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-196-

13

C.



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

t2

13

L4

15

6

L1

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

O

In

the

Imaging Department

who

was

your

original

supervisor?

And

who

is

your

-and

immediate

supervisor

now?

A

O

A

0

A

O

A

O

A

O

A

Spe1l

-

first

name?

And

the last name

i=

I:

I

yes,-

And what

was

the

other

name

you

said?

-,

Ifirst

name,

last

name

i"I

And

what

is

her

race?

She's

of

Idescent,

r'm

not

sure

which one.

And

her color?

Eair skinned,

white.

O

And

her

gender?

O

A

74

0F

109

PETERSTb

f.EPoRrrNG

PAGE

U

74



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

1t

L2

13

L4

15

L6

l.'7

18

79

20

2L

22

23

24

25

BY

MS.

O

A

A

Female.

a

second.

(A

MS.

I'

O

A

O

A

a

A

O

A

O

A

MS.

-

I,

r want to

go

off the

record for

just

discussion

off

the

record

was held.)

I: tr

we're

back on

the record.

,

what

is

her

race?

African'

American.

Cofor?

81ack.

And

gender?

Female.

And

African

American.

Color

?

BIack.

Gende

r ?

Male.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-198-

PAGE 15

OE'

1

O 9

U

15



1

2

3

4

t6

L1

1B

19

20

2t

22

23

24

25

O

activity

A

Do

any of

these

individuals

have knowl,edge

of

your

EEO

in

2005?

No.

6

0

I

'm

going

to

go

over

the

cl-aims and events

that

were

accepted

for investigation

and ask

you

questions

regarding them.

Claim

A, is

DisparaLe

Treatment:

And it says,

whether

8 Complai-nant was treated dif

ferently

and/or

subj

ected

to

hostil-e

g

work

environment

on

the basis

of

race

(African

American),

color

10

(black)

,

gender

(mal-e )

,

and/or

in reprisal

f

or prior

EEO

11

activity

as

evidenced

by

Event 1:

On

June

8th,

2009

you

were

72 detailed

to unclassified

duties.

in Primary

and

Ambul-atory

Care,

13

not to

exceed 60

days,

pending

completion

of

an

administrative

L4

investigation

(fact-finding).

And

this is also

Claim

B,

15

Event

29.

O

A

0

A

Who

detail-ed

you?

A Service Chief

of

Imaging

Department.

And who

was

that?

Dr.

And Dr.

race ?

I

don't

know. Unknown.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-199-

PAGE 16

OE

10 9

l-)

16



1

O

Okay.

2

Her

color?

3 A White.

4

5

O

Gender?

6

A

Female.

7

I

O

Does she have

any knowl-edge

of

your

EEO activity in

9 200s?

10 A

Not

that f'm

aware

of,

no.

11

72

O

And why did

she

detail

you?

13 A

That's

a

good question.

The

only

thing

I know is

that

14

I

was

detailed according

to what's

on

the

letter

,

for an

15

investigation to misappropriat.e

or inappropriate

conduct .

16

L1

0

And

what

was

the inappropriate

conduct?

tB A

I still

donlt

know.

19

20

O

And was

there

an

administrative or

internal

27 investigation

conducted?

22 A I still don't

know.

23

24

O

Were

you

interviewed

by

anybody from

Human

Resources?

PAGE 71

OF 10

9

PETERSON

REPORTING

-200-

(J

t1

25



1 A

-and

2

3

O

And why were

you

interviewed

by

them?

4 A

-

stated that f

was

being interviewed

because

5 he

was

investigating

my EEO

and

OIG

complaint and

also because

6 t.here were al

legations

of inappropriate

conduct

.

1

B

O

And

again, did he

telI

you

what

the

inappropriate

9 conduct'was?

10 A

No.

11

L2

O

Did

Mr.

Italk

to

you

about

this

also?

13

A

Not

at all,

rro.

L4

15

O

And

to

your

knowledge,

have

they

completed

their

16 internal-

investigation?

L1 A I

have

no idea.

1B

79

O

And

are

you

stil-l

detailed?

20 A

Yes.

2t

22

O

Was

anyone

el-se detailed

pending

a

fact-finding?

23 A

No.

24

25

PAGE 18 0F

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-201

-

('t

1B



1

O

Why do

you

believe

you

were

treated

differently

on

the

2

basis

of

your

race

when

you

were

detailed

to

unclassified

duties

3 in Primary

and Ambul-atory

Care

?

4 A Mainly

because

of the treatment that I

had received

5 the entire

year

prior,

and

the

fact

that they

stated

that there

6

was

inappropriate

conduct

but

they

could

never

explain

to

me

1

that the

conduct

was

on

my behalf

or

someone

else's

behalf.

And

I

they al-so stated

that there

were

allegations

of

a

hostile work

9

envi-ronment

so th'ey

removed

me. But

they

never

removed any

of

10 the offenders

who

had

threatened

me

verbally or physically.

11

72

O

And who

are

the

other

offenders

who

you

believe

should

13 have been

r

ot

may

have

been,

could

have been

removed

as

weII?

L4

A

One

of

the offenders

could

have

been

what

I

s

her

15

name?

--

Ei=

one

of

them,

he is

the

MRI technician.

15

Ll

0

And what

is ltt.

I

race?

18 A African

American.

19

20

0

And

his color?

27 A He's a

fair skinned

or light

skinned.

22

23

O

And

gender?

24

A

He's a

male.

25

PAGE \9 OF

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-202-

t9



1

2

3

4

5

6

0

A

And does

he have

any

EEO

activity,

Not

that I'm

aware

of

.

Okay.

Anyone

else?

f'm

sti1l

trying

to find

her

name.

The

correct

pronunciation

of

her

O

A

0

A

O

A

O

A

And

race?

Hispanic.

Col or

?

Vflhite.

And

gender?

Female.

1-.

B sure, I

think

it's

9

10

11

72

13

l4

15

15

t1

18

t9

20

2L

22

23

the

24

25

O

Any EEO activity?

A

Not

that

f'm aware

of.

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were treated

basis of

your

color

when

you

were detailed?

A Because of

all-

the

prior

activity

and

my

PETERSON

REPORTING

-203-

to

your

knowledge?

Her

name

is

l-ast

name I'm

not

differently

on

i-nvol-vement

PAGE

20

OF 10 9

-

20



1

with the

EEO

process

and

the

union.

.)

Z-

3

O

That

woul-d be

why you

were

detailed,

because of

your

4

EEO

activity; right

now

I

rm

asking

why

you

belj-eve

you

were

5 detailed or treated

differently

because of

your

color?

MS.

I

I

need

to talk to him.

MS.

-

okay.

B

9

10

11

I

we'Il

go

off

the record.

(A

paus'e

in

the

proceedings

.

)

MS.

-

Lisa, we're back on the record.

BY MS.

I

L2

O

Mr. Mitchell, I

'm

going

to ask

you

again:

Vfhy do

you

13

believe

you

were treated differently

on

the

basis

of

your

color

L4

when

you

were

detailed?

15

A Okay.

Because of

the

preceding

events

before

the

L6 detail, there

had

been

a lot of prior

EEo/union

activity.

Also,

11 I am the one of two

dark

skinned

people

that

work within

the

18

clinic, everyone else

is

either

femal,e

or

fair

skinned

or

white.

t9

20

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were treated

differently

2L because

of

your

gender

when

you

were

detailed?

22 A Because

many

of the

issues

that

we

had

within

the

23

clinic, a

lot

of

the female

a lot

of

my female

coworkers

were

24

never

disciplined,

detailed, written

up,

chasitsed,

anything.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-204-

25

PAGE 21 OE

109

27



1

Q

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to a

hostil-e

2

work environment on

the basis

of

your

race?

3

A Because I

repeatedly

kept

trying

to

clear

up

an

issue

4 that

we

have.

And

again,

because

of all of

my

union

activity.

5

6

O

The

union

activity

doesn't

deal

with

your

race, that

1

would

be

i-n

reprisal for

either

your

EEO activit.y

or

your

union

B activity.

9 A

Okay.

10

11

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to a

hostile

72

work

environment

because

of

your

color?

13 A

Mainly

primarily

because

a

lot of the

issues

that we

L4

had

within the clinic

I

was

trying to

address,

and

I think

that

15

it was a lot of

f

avoriti

sm

goi-ng

on

amongst

the

supervi sors and

16 it

turned

into

more

of

a

men

versus

women

situation.

And

again,

Ll

being

that

I

was the

only

dark

skinned

individual

j-n

the clinic

18

and

everyone

else

was whit,e

or

f emale

was

an

issue .

19

20

0

That

wou1d

deal

with

your

gender

,

okayr

we

covered

2L

both

of those.

22 And have

you

ever

heard

any

derogatory

comments

or

23

remarks

regarding

your

race?

24 A

Yes.

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-205-

PAGE 22

OE

lO9

22



1

O

What

have

you

heard?

2

A

Within

my first

week

of

employment, which

was

in

3February200B|therewaSanincidentwherenwantedSomeof

4 the

employees

to clean the

basement

out of the hospital,

and

5 while

we were

down in

the

basement.,

she

had

a

conversation

with

6 another

coworker

where

she

told him

she could

get

rid of my

1

negro

ass.

8

9

O

And

who'

'

j-s

the coworker

who

heard

this

?

10 A His

name

i=

I.

Irm

not

sure

what

his last

name

11

is,

thougrh.

72

13

O

Did

you

do anything

about

that

comment?

14

A I

spoke

to her

about

it.

15

L6 O

What

did

she

say?

77

A

She

basically

told me

she

could

fire me

whenever she

18

got

ready

to.

L9

2A

0

Have

you

ever heard

any

comments,

derogatory

comments,

2l

or

remarks

regarding

your

color?

22 A No, not that I'm

aware

of.

23

24

O

Have

you

ever

heard

any

derogatory

comments

or remarks

PETERSON

REPORTING

-206-

25

PAGE

23

OF 109

23



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

74

15

t6

71

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

regarding

A

your

gender?

Yes.

0

What

have you

heard?

A

There

were

severa1

incidents

where the

previous

coworker,

her name

was

f,

she

pretty

much

stated

to

me

the

f

i-rst weeks

that.

f

worked

there, she

ran the

clinics

,

a

woman

could

do

better

for the

job,

Ihad

hand

picked

her

and

because

I was

bla'ik

and

male

f

was

basically

her

slave

or

her

henchman.

O

Did

you

tell

anybody

about these

colnments

?

A

Yes.

Who did

you

tell?

0

And what did she

say?

A

Nothing

really.

O

Have

you

ever

heard

any derogatory

comments

or

remarks

regarding

your

EEO

activity or

union

activity?

A

Yes.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-247

-

0

A

PAGE

24 OF

10

9

24



O

A

1

2

3

Vfhat

have

you

heard?

During

a

department

meeti-ng with

myself

,

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

t2

13

L4

15

76

l7

1B

79

20

2L

22

23

24

25

and

to

and

was

all of my

rotate

us.

was

?

was

O

A

0

A

0

Dr--, andlI,

4

f

had mentioned

to

Jll that,

because

r

was

EEo

driven

EEO

activity,

she's had

to

ask

HR

for

permission

And

she

told

f

that

he

should

be

mindful

watch himself

around

me

and don't.

get

stereotlped

because

I

EEO

driven.

O I think that' s

one

of the

events

in the

cl-aim here.

The

remarks thatll

made,

do

you

recal-I

when

that

A Yes.

That was

in

February

of

2008

Also the

remark

t.hat-lmade

was

in

February

2008?

Yes.

AIso

the

remark

that.

I|fmade

was in

February

2008?

Yes.

And then the

comment

about being

EEO

driven,

that

PETERSON

REPORTING

-208-

A April

2009.

PAGE 25

OF

109

25



2

1

0

Okay.

f'm

going

to

go

on

to Event 2:

You

stater

or

June

3

5th, 2009 effective

at

noon

you

were

placed

on

authorized

4 absence. This is the

same

as

Claim

B,

Event

30.

Who

placed you

on

authorized

absence?

B it's May 2009.

10 O Okay. Great.

Thank

you.

11

72

absence?

And

why

did Dr.

Iplace

you

on

authorized

6

A or-I.

Can

I

change

the

previous

answer?

It's

not

April,

L3

A She

said I was authorized

absence

in conjunction

with

14 the detail.

15

L6 O

And

how

long

were

you

on authorized

absence?

71 A From

that Friday,

June 5th, to

the

preceding Monday,

18 June

Bth.

19

20

0

And June

Bth is when

you

started

your

detail?

2L A Yes.

22

23

O

How many hours on

June 5th

were

you

off?

24 A

Four and

a half.

25

PAGE 26 0F

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-209-

26



l-

Q

And

whatr s the VA

pol-icy

and

procedure

for

placing

an

2

employee

on

authorized

absence

pending

an investigation;

do

you

3

know if this is the

normal

process?

4 A

No,

I donrt

know

if this is

normal.

5

6

0

Has anyone

else

in

your

organizational

unit,

when

you

1 were in fmaging,

been

placed

on

authorized absence?

B

A No.

Not

that

Irm

aware

of.

10 0

And why

do

you

believe

you were

treated dif ferent.ly

on

11 the

basis

of

your

race

when

you

were

placed

on

authorized

L2

absence?

13

A

Again, because

of filing my

EEO

complaint

and OIG

L4

activity.

15

t6 a That's

your

EEO

activity?

Ll

A Right.

1B

\9

O

Irm

going

to

ask

you

about

race,

color,

gender,

and

20

EEO

activity.

2L

Right

now I

want

to

know why

you

believe

you

were

22

treated

differently

and/or

subj

ected to

a

hostile

work

23

environment

on

the

basis of

your

race

when

you were

placed

on

24

authorized

absence?

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

0-

PAGE 21 OF 10

9

21



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10

11

t2

13

t4

15

16

71

18

19

20

27

22

23

24

25

MS.

-

Can I

confer

with him?

MS.

-

I,

we

can

go

off

the record.

(A

pause in

the

proceedings.

)

MS.

I J,

we're

back on

the

record.

BY

MS.

I

0

Mr.

Mitche1l,

why

do

you

believe

you were

treated

dif ferently

and,/or

subj ected

t.o a hostile

work

environment

on

the

basis of

your

race when

you

were

placed

on

authorized

absence

?

A

Because

of

my

EEO

activity.

Because

of the

fact. that

basicalrv

and Dr.

I

treated

me

di f

ferent.ly

than

they treated

my

f

emal-e

coworkers

.

My f

emale

coworkers

were

allowed

pretty

much

free rein;

they

could

come

and

go

as

they

pleased;

they

would

t.ake,

one-,

two-,

three-hour

lunches; they

would

show

up at their work

for

assigned

tour of

duty

and

leave

f

or the rest of the day

and

nobody saj-d

anything.

When I complained

about it, that's when

I

got

the

harsh

treatment.

0

What

race

is

your

female coworkers?

A

Hispanic.

0

And

A

Both

which

coworker?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-211-

of

them,

and

PAGE

28

OF

109

2B



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10

11

t2

13

l4

15

16

1

1B

79

20

2t

22

23

24

25

O

A

O

So

you

be1ieve

you

were

treated

di

f

f

erently

and

sub

j

ect,ed

to a hostile

work

environment

when

you were

detailed

on

the

basis

of

your gender

and EEO

activity?

A

Yes

.

O

A

coworkers,

What

about

race

Race

and

color,

and color?

again, because both

all

my

other

are light

skinned

or

white.

ncluding

O

Okay.

A And

I

Im

dark skinned.

Okay.

A lot of

ti-mes

Dr.

-

or

they

couldn't

even

look at

me;

they would look

down,

look

away or

look

up.

O

Go

on

to

Claim B, Hostile Work

Environment:

V{hether

on

the basis

of

race

(African

American)

,

color

(b1ack)

,

gender

(male)

,

andlor

reprisal

for

prior

EEO

activity,

you

were

subjected

to a

hostile

work

environment

(non-sexual)

as

evidenced

by Event

1: Eebruary

2008

MRI

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

2-

PAGE 29 OE

109

29



1 technologist,

made a bet

with

another

employee

that

he

could

get

2

rid

of

you

and

threatened

you

by saying he should

take

you

3

outside

and

"whoop

your

ass.

4

Who

is

5 A

Eis

the

MRI

technician.

6

1

O

And

his

race?

B A

African

American.

9

10 O

And

his

color?

11 A

Light skinned.

t2

13

O

Gender?

L4 A

Mal-e.

15

16 O

And does

he

have

knowledge

of

your

prior

EEO

activity?

l7 A

Not. that

IIm

aware of, no.

1B

79

O

Does

he have any

EEO

activity?

20 A

Not

that

Irm aware of.

2L

22

O

V[ho

is

the

employee

that Mr.I

made

the

bet

with?

23 A

Another

MRr technician, her

name

i=

I

she has

24 since

retired.

25

PAGE 30 OE

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

3-

30



O

A

1

0

A

0

A

O

A

O

A

O

A

Yes

Who did

you

report

him to?

And who is

Mr.

f

Mr.

Ii"

the

Chief

Tech

for the

department.

And

his

race?

I believe

he's

hispanic.

O

Did

you

report Mr.

I "

anybody?

PETERSON REPORTING

-21

4-

3I-

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

t4

15

t6

t1

18

L9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

And

the

last name?

I

believe

I

believe

it'sD

-

And

when did

she

retire,

approximately?

A I'm

goihg

to

say approximately sometime

during

the

suflrmer

of

2008.

Spe1l

the

first name?

I know we call- heriLfor

shortr

so

I

will

just

say

Color?

PAGE

31 OF 10 9

31



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

72

13

74

15

16

L1

1B

19

20

2t

22

23

24

25

A

Liqht

skinned/

fa:,r

skinned.

Gender?

Mal-e.

And

knowledge

of

your

Not that I'm

aware

of,

O

A

0

A

O

A

EEO

activity?

no.

Does he''have

any EEO

activity himself

?

Not that IIm

aware

of,

no.

o

A

over to

work.

And what

did ltr.

I

ao

or say?

He

contacted

Mr.

I

so did-

He

came

pulIed

us

into a

room

together

and

he

asked

ur.

Ii.

front

of me if he had

made

that

statement,

and

ttYes

.

tt

said

And

thenlasked

me

what was

my

response.

And

I

told

him that. I called

him.

And

thenlstated

that.

he

was

not

going

to

do anything about

the matter

right

now, he

was

j

ust

going

to

let time

weigh

it

out and see

what

happens.

0

To

your

knowledge, was

any

disciplinary

action

taken

PAGE 32 OE

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

5-

building 507, which

is

He

talked to

the

both of

the auxilliary

building

where

we

us separately.

And

then he

32



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

74

15

t6

L7

1B

t9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

against

Mr.

f

A

No.

O

A

Has

Ur.Ithreatened

any

other

employee?

No.

0

Why

do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected

to a hostile

work

environment

on

the

basis

of

your

race

when

made

a

bet

with

ahother

employee

that he could

get

rid

of

you?

he

always

seems

employment.

A

Because

Irm a dark skinned male.

And

to

be

hostile towards

me

since

the first of

my

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected to

a hostile

work

environment

because

of

your

color?

A Again,

because

I

Im

a

dark

skinned

male compared

to

my

other coworkers.

He

is

more

receptive of

them

than he

is

towards

me.

O

Go

on

to

Event

2:

February

3rd,

2008

through

June

1st.

,

2008,

you

were

not

all-owed

to take

your

daily

lunch

breaks because

your

supervisor,

Administrative

Officer,

dfl-owed coworker,

to

be

out of

the

office for

up

to four hours

each day.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

6-

A Yes.

PAGE

33

OF 109

33



1

Q

Vfhat hours did

you

work

between

February

2008

and

-

2

June

2008?

3

A

f had

two

tour of dut

j-es;

they

are

primarily

between

4 the

hours

of

0800

and

5:00

p,m

5

6

O

And what time

were

you

supposed

to

go to lunch?

1

A

There

was

actually

no

set l-unch.

So

we

prett.y

much

B

rotated.

10 O

And

did

you

take

any

of

your

lunch

breaks

between

11 Eebruary

and

June of

2008?

72

A I

did

sporadically,

but not

consistent

like

I

should

13 have.

L4

15

O

Was any other employee

not allowed

to

take

their lunch

16

break?

Ll A No.

At.

that time it

was

j

ust

myself

,.rdI

18

working as the

clerks.

l9

20

O

And what

l=

Irace?

2t

A

Hispanic.

22

23

O

Color?

24

A Light ski-nned.

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-217

-

PAGE 34

OF 10 9

34



1

0

Gender?

2

A

Female.

3

4 O

H

j-story of

EEO

activity?

5

A Not that

I

'm

aware

of,

no.

6

1

0

And why

was

she

out of

the office

up to

four hours

a

B

day?

9 A Vfhen I

'f

irst

started

she

was

going

to

school

r

so

10

Hannah

had

al-lowed

her to

qo

to

school

during

that tour of

duty.

11

The

days that she

wasnIt

going

to school,

about

an hour and a

12

hal f

af

ter

I

got

to

work,

she

woul-d

qo

over

to

building

5

0 0 .

t3

Because,

again, that section

is

separate

from

the

main

hospital.

L4

So

basically

about

10:00

she woul-d

disappear

and

go

to

building

15

500.

She

wouldnft

come back

tiIl

1

or

1:30,

which

is the

time

16 that

she

takes

her

lunch

routinely.

And she

goes

to

1unch

about

L7

an

hour

and a ha1f, she

would

normally

come

by

about

3

and then

18

she secures

at

3:30.

tg

20

O

And

what

was

she

doing over

at

building

500?

2L

A

Most

of the duties

requi-red

us

to

go

and

drop

off

the

22

schedule

for

the

technicians

for the next

day

or

the

following

23

dayr

so I

knew she

was doing

that but the

rest

I

have

no

idea.

24

25

PAGE

35 0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

8-

35



1

O

And what

was

your

regular scheduled

tour

of

duty?

2

A

Her regular tour of duty

at the

time

was

7:30

to

3

--

3 or I'm

sorry, was

1 to

3:30.

4

5

O

And what

hours

did

she

go

to school?

6 A

Again,

that

depend

on what

class

she

was

taking,

but

1

primarily

the

hours

she

was

gone

was

between

10 and

2.

9

0

Was she' charged

leave?

10 A

No.

11

L2

O

And what.'s the

VA

policy

on

granting

employees

a

l-unch

13

break?

L4 A I believe

it

's

you

get

a

3O-minute

lunch break

with

15

two

15-minute

breaks.

t6

tl

O

And

are

you paid

for

the 3O-minute

lunch

break?

18 A

No.

L9

20

a

ff

you

work

through

your

lunch break,

did

you

receive

2L overtime

or

comp

time?

22 A

No.

23

24

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to

a

hostile

PETERSON

REPORTING

-21

9-

25

PAGE

36 OF

109

36



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

I

9

10

11

2

13

L4

15

76

L7

1B

t9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

work environment

on

the basis

of

your

race and/or

color:

When

from

Eebruary 3rd,

2008 through

June

1st

,

2008

you were not

allowed

to take

your

daily

lunch

breaks?

A Again, the race is

because

Irm African

Amerj-can,

ffiY

color

is

because

I'm

darker

th"rr-

and

the

gender

is

because

basically

I

was

a male

and she

was

a

female,

and

at the

time

Ipreferred

she

gave

preference

to

the

female

employees.

O

And

do

you

bel-ieve you were

subj

ected

to a

hostil-e

work

environment

in reprisal

for

your

EEO

activity

when

you

were

not allowed to

take

your

lunch break?

A No.

I

hadn

I

t

filed

my

EEO

complaint

at

the time

yet.

O

Event.

3:

February 2008

to June

2008,

Miss

daily denied

your

request

for

change

in

your

tour

of

duty.

A

Yes

O

What

was

your

tour of

A

The

tour

of duty

from

somewhere

between

B and

5.

O

Ifm

sorry?

duty

prior

to

June

8th?

before

June

Bth

was

again,

go

off?

I

need

PAGE

31 OF

10

9

MS.

I

Excuse

me

a

minute,

can

r

PETERSON

REPORTING

-220-

31



1

to

cough and

get

some

water.

MS.- Okay, we'lJ

go

off

the

record

for

a

3

4

5

6

second,

I

(A pause

in the

proceedings.

)

MS.I:

I

we're

back on

the

record.

BY

vrs.I

1

O

And

Mr.

Mitchel]?

B A

Yes,

rrrd

t

am.

10 O

V{hat

was

your

tour of duty

f

rom

February

to

June

2 0

0I

?

11

A

Again,

somewhere

bet.ween

B:00 and

5:00

p.m.

t2

13

0

You

say

somewhere

in

between, did

you

have

an

L4

established

tour

of

duty?

15

A I

had two, actually:

The

first tour

of duty

I

had

was

t6

from

I

through

I believe 4:30.

And

thenlwanted

someone

Ll

to stay

later

so

I

became

that

lat,e

person

and

my tour

changed

I

18

think

from

g

to

5:30

that

second

time

around.

19

20

0

Do

you

recall how

long

you

had the

I to

4:30 tour

of

2L

duty,

what

the

months

were?

22 A No, I

don'L.

23

24

O

How about

the

9:30

to 5:30?

25

PAGE

38

OE

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-221

-

3B



1 A The

9:30

to 5:30, I

donrt. remember

when

it

2 but it ended

i-n June

of 2008 when

she

then

granted

a

3

duty to

go

from

B

to

4.

4

5

O

And

is that,

you

what wanted

to change

your

6 duty

to?

1

A Actually f

wanted

to

go

earlier

than

t.hat.

B to

tour, in June

of

'08,

because

of all of

the

issues

started,

new tour of

tour

of

f

wanted

between

10

11

72

13

t4

15

15

l1

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

So

the next

option she

gfve

me

was

I to

0

A

g

myself and

-,'

she

moved

I

out of

the

cli-nic,

so

r

had

asked

to

take

I

schedufe

from

1 to

3:30

to

go

to

school

and she told

me no,

4:30.

And

why

did Miss

No

idea.

deny

your

request?

O

Did

anyone

else

request

a

change

in their

tour

of

duty?

A Not that Ifm

aware

of.

0

And

why

do

you

bel-ieve

you

were

subjected

to

hostil-e

work

environment

on the basis

of

your

race

or

col-or

from

June

excuse

rre

r

from

February

3rd

,

2OOB

to June

1st

,

2OOB

denied

your

request

for a

change

in tour

of duty?

PAGE

39

OE

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-222-

Mlss

39



A

Race is

because

Ifm

African

American,

and again,

she

2

showed

favoritism

to

my

other

coworkers who

just

happened

to be

3

either

African

American fair

skinned

or

light

skinned

and

all

4 the

hispanic

coworkers

who,

of

course,

were whit,e

or a liqht

5

skinned.

6

7

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to

a hostile

I

work

environment

based

on

your

gender?

A

Gender,

' 'because

I

'm

a male,

and

all my

other coworkers

10 that

she

showed

favoritism to

were

female.

11

L2

O

In

Event 4z Eebruary

2008

to

June

2008,

Ms.

13

daily

denied

your

request

to

work

overtime

or

earn

compensatory

L4

time.

15 And did

you

request

on

a daily

basis

to

work

overtime

16 or

earn

comp

time?

A No.

Actually

I

submitted this to

be

changed.

She

7

18

didn't

deny

the request

to

work

comp time,

she

offered

me comp

9

time in

lieu

I

I

m

sorry,

she offered

me

comp

time

instead of

20

overtime.

Iwas

the only

employee

who

was

al-l-owed

to work

2L

overtime.

And

she

told me

I

could

work comp

time

and

I

was

only

22

allowed two

hours

a day.

And

they

wanted

me to

stay

to

help

PETERSON

REPORTING

-223-

40

23

It"

do

the backlog, but

she

earned

anywhere

between

two to

24

six

hours

a day

of

overtime.

25

PAGE 40 OE 10

9



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

76

77

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

O

A

the

difference

of

there

was

a

need

the

hours

when she

to

reduce

the

O

A

O

A

Was

she

paid

in

an

Yes.

overtime rate?

in June;

and

with

myself, and the

presence

of

unl_on

representative,

hadr-t,n

mysel

r

,

ano Ene

presence

or my

unl_on representratr-ve,

na

Iooked both

tI

and

myself

up in

the

system and

she

noted

How

do

you

f

reported

know

that?

that

to

denied

you

overtime?

that

I

was

receiving

pay

for

overtime

for

those

hours.

And

that

I

s

when

she

instructed

me

to

maybe consider

filing the

complaint.

Mis=

Idid?

Yes.

0

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were subj

ected

to hostile

environment/harassment on

the basis of

your race

or

color

O

A

work

when Ms.

A

Because

she

was

showing

favoritism

toward=

-

PETERSON

REPORTING

-224-

And

why

was

I

allowed

to

work

overtime?

I

was

working

overtime,

from

what

If

told

ne

r

because she

was making

up

was

at

school

and

because

backlog.

PAGE

47

OF

10 9

47



1

I

again,

was female

hispanic

and

she seemed

to

curry

favor

2 with the

females

in the

department,

especially

hispanic.

4 O In

Event

5:

May

5th,

2008,

Mis=Itold

you

5 that

you

should

seek a reassignment

to another

service

and

that,

6

you

would find

more

opportunities

in

private

industry

and

1

subsequently she

sent,

you

e-mails

about

other

j

ob

training.

8 A Yes.

10 O

And

what

did

she

acttrally

say

to

you about that?

11 A

That

was

in

response

to

Ms.

-

had said

that

72 she

was

looking

for

a

lead

for

the department

and

f had enquired

13

about the

position.

But because

of the issues

that

I was

having

L4

in the clinic

with

my

coworkers

and both

with

-

she told

15

me

that that

posi-tion

was

not

available

for me

anymore, and

that

15 I

should maybe

think

about

going

to other

services

or

other

Ll

agencies

like Social

Security

or INS or

Homeland Security,

1B

because

they had

a better

upward

mobility

program.

9

20

a

Did

she

say

the same

thing to

any

other

employees?

27 A

Yes,

she

did

most

recently

say

that

to

I

And

22

that

was

somewhere between

April and June

of

this

year.

23

24

O

And

why

did she tell

her

that?

25

PAGE 42 0F

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-225-

42



1

A

f have

no

idea.

2

1B

3

O

And

what

did the

e-mai1

say?

She

sent

you

e-mail-s

4

regarding

other jobs,

what.

did they

say?

5 A

She

sent

an

e-mail

stating

that

let

me

find

that

6 here.

Here

it is.

She sent

me

an

e-mail

stating

that

we

had not

yet

been

B

given permission

to

hj-re

a lead,

and that

would

probably

be over

9 a

year

before

it happen. She

stated that

it

was in my best bet

10 or in

my

best interests in that type of work setting to

gather

11 experi-ence in dif

ferent

services.

She then

stated

that

we

have

12

many

that explore

even fNS.

In

parentheses

she

stated,

13

"immigration"

"oh,

ffiy brother

works for

INS

and

they

have

a

L4

better upward

mobility

program

than

we

did.

He

started

a

GS-5

15

and he' s already

a GS-9. He never

went to

college.

High school

16

grad

and has

moved

up

the

ladder.

Social

Security

I

wouldn

I

t

do

1

this

right now,

they

j

ust laid

off

t

D. O.

D.

et

cetera.

"

She told

iler

don't

limit my

possibilities.

"There

is

19 a

guy

I

Im

ment.oring

unofficially

who has

moved

up

from

a

ward

20

clerk GS-5 to a

GS-9/ll

Administrative

Support.

He

was

willing

2L to

explore

all options

and different

shifts,

et

cetera."

In

22

that e-mail.

23

24

O

And

what's

the

date

on

that

e-mail?

25

PAGE 43

0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-226-

43



1

A L0/6/08.

2

3

O

And

is

it addressed

just

to

you?

4 A

Yes.

5

6

O

okay

1

Make

sure

when

we're

done

here that

you

fax

me

a copy

I of that.

9 A

Okay.

10

11

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected

to a

host.ile

12

work

environment on the

basis

of

your

race

or color:

V0hen

on

13May5th,2008,MS.Eto1dyouthatyoushou1dseeka

L4

reassignment

to

another

service?

15 A Because of the issues

that I

was having

with my

L6

coworkers, both

-andland

also withl

L1

18

0

And

the

same

with

your gender?

79

A Yes.

20

2L

O

Event

6:

May sth,

2008, Mis=

Idenied

your

22

request

to

leave 15 minutes

early in

l-ieu

of

having

missed

your

23

break

and

then subj ected

you

to sarcastic

remarks.

24

V[hy

did

Ms.

I

deny

your

request

to

]eave 15

25

PAGE

44 0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-227

-

44



1 minutes earlier?

2 A

On

this

particular

day,

again, this

was

one

of the

3 days

my

coworker,

f

was

gone

throughout

the

most

part

of

4 the day.

This

particul-ar

day

she

was gone

six

hours

out of

the

5 eight-hour

tour.

She

was

there

the

f irst

hour f came

t,o work,

6

she l-ef

t

the

hour af ter

I

arrived,

and she

came

back

the last

Since there

was

no

coverage, I

was

the

only one in the

9

clinic, so there

was

no

one

to

cover

me

for a break.

So

I

10 called I at

4:00

and asked

her if I

could

leave

early

15

11

minutes, because

I

have

a

two and a haIf, three-hour

commute.

12

And her

response

to me clearly

was,

"Why

the

hel-l should I

?

13

What makes

you

so damn special?"

l4

And

that's

when

I told her I didn't

take

a

lunch

and f

15 didn't

take

a break today becaus"Iwas

gone

the

whole

day

76

and

I just

wanted

to leave early, if possible.

t1

18

O

And

what

were

your

j

ob

duti-es

at

the

time?

19

A

Patient

Servi-ces

Assistant

.

20

2L

O

Vflhat were

your

duties ? Vfhat were

you

doing?

22 A My duties

were

to schedule all

consults

for

the

23

clinic,

cancel-

appointments, cause

the

patient

reminder

phone

24

calls,

do

travel

vouchers

for

patients going to

the

outside

PETERSOi{

REPORTING

-228-

45

25

PAGE 45 OF

10

9



1

clinic

for

MRIs or x-rays.

2

3

Q

And

what

time

--

what

are

the hours

of the

cl-inic?

4 A

The

hours

of the clinic

now

are --

5

6

O

In May of 2OO8, what

were

the hours

of the cfinic?

7

A In May of 2008

the hours

of the clinic

--

the

first

8 appointment

was

at 7:30,

and the

evening

clinic

went

all

the

way

9 up to

7:00

p.m.,

'so

the last

appointment

was

at 6:30.

10

11

Q

Was there a clj-nic clerk

after

4:30?

72

A Yes, that

was

myself.

I

would

stay

until 5,

5:30.

13

L4

0

Was there a clinic

clerk after that

time?

15

A

No.

76

tl

O

Who

checked in

the

6:30

appointment?

18

A

The

techni-cians

did.

9

20

0

And

was

there

a technician

that

could

have

covered for

2l

you

if

you

left

15

minutes

early?

22

A Yes.

23

24

O

And

who is

the technician

that

coul-d

have covered

for

PETERSON

REPORTING

-229-

25

PAGE 46 OF

109

46



1

you?

2

A

I'm not sure

exactly

who

the

tech

would,

be

but

the

3

tech

that night

routinely would

n"

I

"=fJ

4 I'm not

sure

what

her last

name

is

and

they

usually

rotate

5

the evening schedule.

But

there's

always

a tech

on

duty in

the

6 evenJ-ng.

1

I

O

What t.ime do they

come in?

9 A

The

teclis

are

on

a stagnated(sic) schedule,

meaning

10

some

start at 1 to 3,

some come

in 3 to 11. It's shift

work

for

11

the tech.

72

13

0

Have any other employees

missed

their

breaks?

L4

A

Not

to

my knowledge,

Not

that

I

'm

aware

of.

15

76

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were subjected

to hostile

L1 work

environment

on the

basis

of

your

race or

color:

When on

18

May 5th

,

2008,

your

request

to leave

15

minutes

early

was

1

9 denied?

20

A

Again,

because

I'm

African American;

the col-or

is

2L because I

am

darker

than

my

coworker at

the

time,

which

was

22

II

she

was

light

skinned

or

white;

and because

my

gender,

23

because

I'm

a

male and

I

is a female

and

I

favored

24

flover

me.

PETERSON

REPORTTNG

-230-

41

25

PAGE 41

OF

10

9



1

O

fn

Event

-7:

May

6, 2008 Ms.I

harassed

you

by

2

sending

an e-maj-I

message notifying

you

of a

meeting

schedule

3 the

f

o1lowing

day.

How

did

Ms.

fJ

harass

you

by

sending you

this

6 A This

e-mail-

was

in

response

to

when

I

cal-ted

Il

to

1

ask

to

leave

15

minutes

early.

And

after

we had

our

telephone

B

conversation,

she

sent off

this e-mail

where she

wanted

to

know

9

everyone

I

s schedule

and

their

l-unch

breaks.

And she

went

on

to

10 teII

us

how

we

get

two

15-minute

breaks

and

a

3O-minute

lunch.

11

I

felt

that

she

sent

this

in

response

to

me letting

her know

t2

that that as

a

resul-t

of

Illbeing

gone

routinely

I'm not

13

able to take

my breaks or lunch

because

it's

just

myself

and her

L4

in

the clinic

and there

is

no coverage.

15

\6

0

And who el-se recej-ved

the e-mail?

L7

A

The

e-mail

was

addressed

to

myself,

1B

and|;|}

t9

20

O

And his race?

21,

A

Af

rican

American.

22

23

O

Col-or?

24

A

Bl-ack.

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-231

-

4

5

e-mai-1?

PAGE

48 OF

109

4B



1

O

Gender?

2 A Male.

3

4 O

Any

EEO

activity?

5 A

Not

that

I'm aware

of

.

6

1

O

And

what

was

the

meeting

about?

I A The meeting

was

about our lunch schedule,

who should

9 cover

who. That

''s

pretty

much the

gist

of

it

.

10

11

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to

a hostile

72 work

environment/harassment.

on the

basis

of

your

race,

color,

or

13

gender:

When

on May 6, 2A08,

Mis=

-harassed

you

by

74

sending an

e-mail

message

notifying

you

of a

meeting

that

was

15

schedul-ed

f

or the

f ollowing

day?

t6 A

Agai-n,

because

I feelI

was

upset

because

I

was

Ll coming to her about

what

my

coworker

was

doing,

and

prior

to the

18

phone

call

she's

always

favoredl.

And

again,

I

i=

L9

hispanic, she's

light

skinned,

and

she's

a

female;

and

Ifm

20

African

American,

dark

skinned,

and

I'm a

male.

2L

22

O

And

when

did

you

file

your

EEO complaint?

23 A

Vflhen did

I file

the

EEO

complaint?

24

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-232-

PAGE

49 OF

10 9

49



1

2

3

4

5

5

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

O

A

Yes.

April

16th,

of 2009.

0

When

did

you

fi-rst talk to

someone

regarding

your

complaints

?

A

Oh, this the second

week

in

I

contacted the

union.

And

February

2008,

I

had

came

over

to the

clinic. She

arranged

a meeting

withI,

myself,

andl

L7

1B

L9

20

27

22

23

24

25

May

2OOB,

Ms.

-pu11ed

you

out

of a

PETERSON

REPORTING

-233-

was

t,o be

present',

but at

the day

of

the

meeting,

Isays

she

didn't. wantl to

be

present,

so

it

was

just

myself,

t,

andI.

And

we

discussed

the

j-ssues

that

we

And when r

toldI

about

it,

I

said

that

161fwas not a

l-ead

or a

supervisoc

I

was

the

supervisor, and

if there

were

any

problems,

to

contact

her.

However,afterwehadthemeetingwiththeunionand-waS

not

present,Ibthen

went

into

flJ

of

fice

shortly

thereafter

and

tol-d

her

that

the entire

meeting

was

about

her

and

I

was

complaining

about

her.

And

t.he

problems

j

ust

ensued

after

that.

O

were

having.

Because,

again,

when

Bertha

t.o1d

me

that she

henchman

and she

was

the

biq

the first

week

that

I

started

is

ran the

clinic

and

I

was

j

ust

her

boss in

charge.

Event

PAGE

50

0r

109

50



1 timekeeper training

cl-ass

which

she

had

previousJ-y

approved

you

2 to

attend.

When

was

the

timekeeper

training class

approved

for

4

you

t.o

attend?

5 A She

approved

me

to

go

to the

timekeeper

class

on

6 this

was

in

May I'I1

give

you

the

exact

date

on

May l2tJn

1

is when

she informed me

about what

day

I

would

be taking

the

8

timekeeper'

s c1ass.

10 O

What

date

were

you

supposed

to

take

the

timekeeper's

1 1 class ?

72

A

Frj-day

the 16th

of June

.

13

74

O

And what reason

did she

give

you

for

pulling

you

out?

15

A

She

didn't. She

stated

no

reason

at

all.

a6

11

O

The

class

she

pulled

you

out of

was

j-n

May

of

2008?

18 A

No. In

May

of

2008

f

sent

out

the

e-mail

wanting

19

to know i f there

were any

volunteers

for

the

timekeepi-ng staf

f .

20 I volunteered to

be a timekeeper. V[e11,

shortly

thereafter

j-s

2L

when

we had

the

big incident

betwee"-land

myself,

which

22

was

May 29tln

or 30th.

After

the big

incident

*ithl

is

23

when

I

decj-ded to

pu1l

me

out of

the tj-mekeeper'

s c1ass.

24 She

pulled

me

out of

the cl-ass

in June.

25

PAGE

51 0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-234-

51



1

2

3

4

9

10

11

t2

13

O

A

Have

you

since

No.

0

Has

Ms.

a

A

O

A

attended

the timekeeping

class?

pufl-ed any

other

employee

from

5 training?

1

or

timekeeper?

B

A Not that I

'm

aware

of

,

no

. E

rom

t,raining

in

general

O

A

Any

tra'ining c1ass.

Yes.

O

And what

kind

of training

was

he

pulled

out

of?

A Both he and I had

requested

to

attend

Planetree

L4

training

and Systems

Redesign

training and

she denied

the both

15

of us.

L6

L7

1B

T9

20

2t

22

Okay,

thatrs a different

one

I

okay.

How

about any

other

timekeeping

classes?

No.

Who

j-s

the

t.imekeeper

for

Actually

there's

several.

Imaging?

I believe

therels

flve

or

23 six

of

them

now.

24

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-235-

PAGE

52

OF 109

52



1

O

Did

she they

have

training

after May of 2008?

2

A

III

did,

yes.

3

4 0 I=-

one

of the

timekeepers?

5

A

Yes.

6

1

0

In

Event

9: You

state

December 6, 2008,

B Mis"

Itold

you

"f

f

you

want

to

get

anywhere

in

the VA

9

you

have

to kiss my ass.

"

10 A

Yes.

11

t2

O

Has

she

made

the same

or similar

comments

to

any

other

13

employees?

\4

A Yes.

15

t6 0

Who

has

she

said that

to?

71

A.

1B

t9

O

V{hat

has she

said

to him?

20

A He

was

present.

when

she made

the

comment.

We

were

2L

both

she

was

giving

us

our

performance

appraisals

statement

22

so

she

made

the comment

to

both

of

us

as

we

were

both sitting

23

there.

24

25

PAGE

53 0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-23

6-

53



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

L4

15

76

t7

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

O

Why

was

she

giving

you

your

performance

appraisals

at

Lhe same time?

A I have

no

idea.

O

What

did

you get

on

your

perf

ormance

apprai

sal-

?

A

I

do

not

have

that

with

frer

but

I

want

to

say

Ful1y

Successful.

There were

no

bad

marksr

so.

O

Go on to

Event

10:

January 9th

,

2009,

Ms.

failed to take any action

when

you reported that

Mr.

threatened

you,

saying that he

had

a

gun

j-n

his car

wanted

to

go

outside so he

could

shoot

you.

A Yes.

I

and that

he

O

you

told

A

Dr.

He

the

her

about

Yes, ftm

I

sent

an

what

did

Ms-

Isay

to

you

about

ltt-

Ii*hen

his threat? Mr.

Mitchell?

here.

I'm

going

through

this.

e-mail-

to

who

is

the

supervi

sor,

supervisor.

was

upset

because

of

the

clerk for the department

Service Chief,

who

is

and

who

is

And f

told

them that

I

was between

workl-oad

on the

one

of

the

had threatened

me.

schedule,

and

being

clerks

for the

PETERSON

REPORTING

-237

-

54

1:30

and

2:00IIhad

--t

PAGE

54

OF 109



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

department

I

was responsible

f

or

putting

t.he

patients

on

the

schedule

or

the

workl-oad.

So

he

was

upset

and

he

came to

my'

desk and he

picked

up

the schedul-e

and he

looked

at

it.

And

he

he

laughed and

he

said,

"You

know

what, I

ought

to kil1

you

for

this."

And he

told me

he

had a

gun

in

his car.

And he

told

me he

wanted

me to

go

outside

with him

because

he

wanted to

shoot

me,

And

what

was

the response

to

Miss

A

She

wrote

back an

e-mail stating for C"d

11

I;f,

"Can

you

please

discuss

this

with

your technician.

they

have

a

problem

with

the

schedule,

they

of us.

The

schedulers are doing what

we

ask

If

one

2

13

L4

15

t6

11

1B

L9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

need to

talk to

them

to do.

"

O

O

A

Did any other employee hear Mr.

Ithreaten

you?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-238-

O

And

did

you

talk to

anybody

else

regarding

ut.I

threatening

you

with a

gun?

No

one else

contacted

me.

Nope.

Has

ur.Ithreatened

any

other

employee

in the

same manner?

A

No.

Yes.

PAGE

55

OF

109

55



1

O

Who?

2

A

--

3

4 0

And

what

was

t'lr.

|f

response?

5 A I think

stunned,

Iike mine.

6

7

Q

Did

you

contact

the VA

Pol-ice?

8 A No.

9

10 Q

Why

not?

L1 A Because the regulation

only states

that

you

have

to

-J.2

contact the

police

or

you.r

supervisor.

So

I contacted

my

13

supervisor because

this

was

an ongoing

problem with him, it

1,4

wasnrt the first incident.

There

was

one

of several

incidents.

15

And

the first time I ever contacted

the

VA Police

they actually

16 told

me

to

contact

my

supervisor

first.

So

that's

why

f

always

17

went

to the supervisors first.

l-8

'J-9

Q

Do

you

know

what

the VA

policy

is

regarding

guns

on VA

20

grounds?

2l A

That one,

no.

22

23

Q

Or the

VA

policy

regarding work

place

violence?

24 A

Yes.

25

PAGE

56 0F

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-239-

56



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

L6

L1

18

L9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

O

Vflhat is that

A

For

the most

believe

it

states

that

event

r or act,

you

are

Pol

ice

.

O

Why

do

work environment

pol

icy?

part,

I

don't

have

it here

with

ffie

r

bu

I

if

you

witness

any

such injury,

incident,

to

contact your supervisor

or the

VA

yo

on

u

believe

you

were

the

basis

of

your

subj

ected

to a

hostile

race or col-or:

When on

January

9th

,

2OO9',

M=.

II

failed to take

any

action

when

you

reported

to her that

Ut.

I

threatened

you?

A

Because she has

shown favori-tism

towards

Mr.

I

.=

far

as other employees.

is

although

he is

African

American,

he

is

very

fair

skinned

with

blue eyes and

he

has

straight

hair.

And

she

would

speak

she

talks

to him

regularly

but

she

wouldn't

talk to

me.

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to

a hostile

work

environment

on

the

basis

of

your gender?

A

Again,

because

I'm

a mal-e and

she shows

she

tends

to

show

favoritism

towards

the

females.

is

a male,

he's

been

there for al-most

30

think she shows

him that

respect

because

time.

Even though

ltt.

I

something

years

r

so

I

he's

been

there a

long

PETERSON

REPORTING

-240-

page

51 of

109

51



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

L4

15

16

t1

18

79

20

2L

22

23

24

25

O

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected

work

environment

in reprisal

for

your

EEO

activity?

A

No,

I haven't

f

didn't

file

at the

time

to

a

hostil-e

yet

-

0

reque s

t

Event

11:

January

2009, Ms.

to

attend

Planetree

training.

Vfhat is

Planetree

training?

Planetree

is the

new

program

had denied

your

wanted

to

a

part

of

the

a

whole

and

that

was brought

on

by

the

new

'Director,' 'Ms

.

fn essence,

we

t

re it

t

s

like

changing

the environment, we're

making

the

environment

more

calm and

peaceful

for

the

patients

and the

employees.

The

training

at

the time

was

they

were

looking

for

trainers to help

facj-litate

or train the employees

in the

process

of

Planetree.

It

was

actualfy

I

idea

that

I

volunteer

for

Planetree

trainj-ng.

And

she

gave

me

that

j-dea

in

December

'0B

when

she

did

my performance

appraj-sal

.

O

Why

did

you

want

to

attend this training?

A

I

wanted

to weIl,

primarily

because

I

A

help

out

with

the

cause

basically.

I

wanted

to

be

fact

that,

you

know, is

helping

to

change

t.he

VA as

change

the facility

environment.

O

And

why was

your

request

denied?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-241

-

page

58

of 109

58



1 A She

stated that at the

time

she

couldn't afford

to let

2

anyone 1eave

the clinic to

go

to tsraining,

because

it was for

3 several days out of

a

week

for

an entire

year,

and also

because

4 she felt that I wasn'L

ready.

5

6

0

Did

she say why

she

felt

you

weren't

ready?

1

A

No.

B

9

O

Did

anybody

else in

the clinic attend

Planetree

10 training?

11 A No. She denied

both

myself and-

L2

13

O

Did

anybody

else

apply

besides

you

and u..

I

L4 A

Not

that I'm aware

of.

She did

mention

that she was

15

considering

other employees

within

the

department.

L6

11

O

Event, L2:

January

2A09, Ms.

-

denied

your

18

request

to attend

Systems

Redesign

training.

L9

What

is the

Systems Redesign

training?

20

A

The

Systems

Redesign

is

a

team

of

employees

that are

2L

traj-ned to help

facil-itate

change within the

department

to

catch

22

maybe

clinical- errors and

things

of that

nature,

you

know, help

23

get

the department

back on

track.

And

at

the

time

they

were

24 looking

for

people

t.o

volunteer

to

become

coaches.

So,

again.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-242-

25

PAGE

59

OF 109

59



1

at

t,he

urge or suggestion

of

I

I

put

my

name

in the

hat

to

2 be

considered

for Systems

Redesign

training,

considering

that

3

Or.

I

had

made me

a

member

of the Clinic

System Redesign

4

team

to actually

become

an

offj-cial trainer,

and

she

said

no.

5

6

O

And

the

reason

she

said

no?

1

A She said okay

r

ort

January

30t.h of

'

09,

she

stat,ed

B that

she

was

going

to hold

off

on

appointing

any coaches. She

9 stated

that

"I

wifl discuss

this

individually

with

Bruce

and

10

Il=o

we

can

develop

IDPs

rel-ated

to their careers. I

11

don't

believe

they are ready

for

this type of

an

assignment."

L2

She

went on

to say,

"There

are

other

opportunities',

13

such

as Planetree trainers

,

which

they are

l-ooking

f

or

L4

front-line workers to

participate,

et

cetera.

Bruce

and

15

II

please

call for

an

appointment

to

discuss

the rDP.

16

Please

bring

your plans

to me

as

we

discussed

in

December."

11 So

initially

I

applied

for

Systems

Redesign,

ds

she

18

alluded

to; she

saidr rro . Then

she said that.

there

are other

19 opportunities

f

or

Pl-anetree

r

so then I applied

f

or Planetree;

20 and

she said

no as

wel-l.

27

22

O

Did

you

submit

an

IDP?

23

A

No.

She

had

just

given

us

our

IDPs

in December

and

24 this

happened

at

the end

of January,

and

she

never

did

meet

with

25

PAGE 60

0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-243-

50



1 us

after

that.

2

3

0

And

besides

you

and

Mr.

I

did

any

other

employee

4

want

to

attend

the

Systems

Redesign

training?

5

A

Not that

I

'm

aware

of, no.

6

1

O

I

need

copies

of

the e-mail

regarding

the

Planetree

I and the System

Redesign.

9 A

Okay.

10

11

O

rn Event

13:

February

9th,

2OOg,

Ms.

Ifailed

12

to t.ake any

action

when

you

reported Mr.Iagain

threatened

13

you.

L4

How

did

Mr.

I

threaten

you

in

February

2009?

15 A This

particular

incident

I

can't

find

my

note on

76

this one.

I'm not

sure.

L1

1_B

19

20

(A

pause

in

the

proceedings.

)

THE WITNESS : Okay. This

incj-dent

related

to

2L

And

it

was

related to

the

schedule,

because

I

was

putting

t.oo

22

many

patients

on the

schedule.

Mr.IJrrd,

again, said that he

wanted

to

whoop

my

behind.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-244-

23

24

25

PAGE

61

OF

109

61



1

2

3

4

q

6

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

t4

15

\6

t1

1B

79

20

2L

22

23

24

25

BY

MS.

GARBE:

0

And what did

Ms.

Mr--

say

when

you

reported

A

Agai-n, she

referred it

to

and

to

deal with.

And

do

you

know

what

happened

after

that?

To my knowledge

nothj-ng.

In

Event

t4:

You

state

March

24Lh,

2009,

O

A

D'.IServiceChief,madeaderogatorystatementabout

"techs "

becoming a

l-ittl-e hostile,

which

you

believe

it

was

directed at

you.

During

this

same meeting she

said

that

your

issues

were addressedr

so she woul-d

not take any

action;

and

that

Herli-nda

Valdovi-nos

was

det.ailed

to

the department

because

she was

"a

fresh face"

and

a

woman

can do

the

job

better.

Vfho

was

in

this meeting

on

March 24t1n, 20

0

9

?

A

March

24Lh,

it

was

Or.

I

-,

and

myself

ilm

sorry,

-,

and myself.

And

what

was

the

meeting

about?

In my opinion,

the

meeting was

a

to

cover

a

lot

of

the

issues

that

which

was

the

scheduling

issue,

O

A

she tried

attention;

blanket

meeting

where

I

brought

to

her

t.he threats

f rom

PETERSON

REPORTING

-245-

PAGE

62

OF

10

9

62



the

threats

and

the

derogatory

comments

from

2

lff

the

issues

with

f.

And

at

this

particular

meeti.g,

B

the workload and she

was

trying to

say

that

everyone is under

9 stress

because

we

have

to clear

the backlog and

she could

10

understand

why

the

techs

are

upset

with the

clerks.

3

4

5

6

1

11

\2

13

L4

15

t6

L7

1B

L9

20

23

24

25

O

A

she had

said

that

she

was

aware

of

the threats.

However,

this

wasn't

the first time that

she

told

me

she

was aware

of it.

She actually told

ffier

during

a Systems

Redesign

meeting, that

she had heard

about

the threats

and

she

was upset

about them. But she

said

during

this

meeting,

that

because

of

So

she

went

on

to say t.hat,

you

know,

even though

their actions

were

uncalled

for,

deep down inside

we

all

know

that

he really

meant

it.

O

And

when

she said,

"he

really

meant

it,

"

who

was

she

talking about?

A

And what

issues

did

Dr.

Isay

were addressed?

She

addressed the

backlog issue.

She

addressed

the

2L the number of

phone

ca1ls

we

received

dai1y.

We

were

so

22 inundated with

phone

calls

that

we

received

more

phone

calls

than

she had

clerks to answer.

She

tal-ked

about

the

hours of

the clinic.

We

discussed

the

scheduling

patients;

how we will

PETERSON

REPORTING

-246-

PAGE

63 OE

109

63



1 now schedufe

the

patients,

who

or

what

tlpe

of

procedure

would

2 be done

at

what

time. And

then

she

afso

went

on

to

say

how

she

3

was

aware of

the

issues

that

were

goj-ng

on

j-n

the c1j-nic,

and

4

she

was

trying to figure out

what

to

do

about

them.

5

6

0

And did

you

say how

she

addressed

these

issues

or

what

1

she

was

going

to do if

she

tried to figure it

out?

B A

Nope,

she didn't.

No

clue

or

suggestions

whatsoever.

9 This

is

'also

the

ineeting

of

March

24th, where she

said t.hat

10

Herlinda

was

her last

hope,

and she

was

bringi"g

-over

1 1 because

thi

s

was her

l-ast chance

to

get

it right

.

L2

13

O

And

did

she

make

the

comment that-was

"a

t4 fresh

face" and

as a

woman

she could

do

the

job

better?

15 A Yes.

t6

Ll

O

And

did

you

say

anything

to her

about

t.hat

comment

?

18

A

Vflhen

f started

to

tal

k

to

her

about

it, she

j

ust cut

L9

me off . Thatts

the routine

between

nr.Iand

myself

;

20 when

I

speak, she

cuts me

offr

so I stop

talking.

27

22

O

V[hy

do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected

to

a

hostile

23 work

environment

based

on

race

or

col-or

on

March

5th

,

2OOg when

Dr.

Imade

these

coilrments?

4

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-247

-

PAGE 64 OE

10 9

64



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

2

13

L4

15

16

L1

1B

19

20

2t

22

23

24

25

A

One,

because I

Im

African

Amerj-can;

whenever

nr.Isees

me

or comes

over

to the

clinic,

she

never

l-ooks

at

me when she's tal-king

to ffie

r

she

looks

away

or in

another direction.

And

two,

because

I

am

dark skinned.

And

three,

because

ilm a male.

And

when

they

removedlfrom

the

clinic, that

left

myself

and

whi.h-

brought over,

and when we

started

having

problems

with

I

she

decided

to bring over

-

And

-

agai-n, is

female, hispanic,'

'and

light

or fair

skinned.

O

When Dr.

-talks

to other employees,

does

she

look

them

in

the

eye?

A Yes. As a matter

of fact,

throughout

the

whole

meeting she

kept coddling

and

petting-

I

just

happened to be sitting

by

one

of those hand

sanit

tzer

dispensers

that

automatically

dispense,

and

f

guess

maybe

she

triggered

or

set it

off and

hand

sani

t;-zer dripped

all

over

her. And

,..

I

j

umped

up

and

started combing

it

of

f

or

wiping

it

off her hair, and she

got

a rag

and

tried

to

get

it off

She's

friendly

towards

the

female

employees,

not

friendly

towards either

myself

or

I

0

and

your

of

but

her.

shet s

EvenL

15:

April

6,

2OOg, Ms.

-berated

you

for not

providing coverage

PETERSON

REPORTING

-248-

coworker,

PAGE

65

OF

10

9

65



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

t2

13

t4

for the front desk.

A

Yes.

O

A

to

we

the

Subway

at L2, we're

came

back

at

72:45,

And

what

did

Ms.

-say

to

you

and

MT.III

On

April 6thr

oo

this

particular

day

-and

I

it

was

I

myself,

and

f}

we

were all

present

that

day. Whe"-was

brought

over

to t.he clinic,

she

automatically

assumed that

the magical hour for

her to

go

to

Iunch was

1:00.

Now,

she

was

brand new to the

cli-nic,

she

didn't care

whoever

went

to lunch at that time, that

was

her

time to

go

to

l-unch.

SoIIand I would

always

walk to

Subway

at L2200.

So

t,his

particular

day we left

to

go

normally

back by

72:30,

1-2:45.

When

PETERSON

REPORTING

-249-

15

II*r=

walking out

of

the building

and

she

asked us

who

was

16

covering

the front

desk;

we

tol-d

h.rI was.

She

said

Ll

-was

gone.

1B

19

23

24

coverage

25

And I

toldI

this

is

typical

.

This

is

what

ilve

been telling her all the time,

that

-

does exactly

what

20

Idid;

she

comes

and

goes

as

she

pleases. And if

we're

not

2

around

,

Lf she's

going

to leave,

she'Il

leave

regardless

of

22

whether

there

is

coverage for

the

front desk

or

not.

As

a

resul-t,

Isaid

that

we

need

to

provide

for the

front

desk.

And

then

she

went

on to

say

that

PAGE

66

OE' 10 9

66



1

2

we need to

have a

meeting

to discuss

coverage

and t.he

lunch

breaks.

And

on

Tuesday,

April

J

t

she sent

an

e-mail

to

myself,

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

14

15

L6

L1

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

0

2009,

you

overheard

that

she

should

not

telI

you

timekeeper

class,

and

that

she

al-so

he is.

"

A

Why

did

Ms.

or

why did

Ms.

not

to tel1

you

she

was

going

to

timekeeper

Ever since she

pul1ed

me

from

timekeeper

class in

June

I repeatedly

asked

her

to

go. And she

once

told

me

PAGE

61

OF

10

9

PETERSON

REPORTING

-250-

3I

and she

CCd

Dr.

Iand-

about

the

coverage.

And

this e-mail is identical not identical

or

similar to

the e-maj-l-

she sent

to

myself

and

-back

on

the

same

date.

So

we

have

the

same

issues withlthat

I had

withlack

j-n

the latter

part

of 2008.

Has

Ms.

-f

spoken

to

any

other

employee

in

the

same manner

about

the

same

issue?

A

O

In

Event

15:

April

16th,

r'l=-IsaytoMs--

that

she

stated,

0

tell

Ms.

class

?

A

of

2008,

was

going

to

"You

know

how

Yes .

51



.

1

that she

didnrt

pull

me

from

timekeeper

cIass, f said

I didn't

2

want

to

go

and because

I never

re-approached

her

and

tol-d

her I

3

wanted

to

go

,

that

she

never

sent

me

.

However,

I tol-d

her

that

4 in

an

e-mail it

was

incorrect,

Here

I

i"

a new

employee t.o

VA,

haven't

even

6 done

one

year;

new employee

to

the clinic,

hasn't

been

here

30

1

days

;

and

she

gives

her

opportunj-ty

to attend

timekeeper clas s .

8 And I've

already

been

here

over

a

year,

and

I don't

have

the

9

same

opportunity

'for

it.

10

She

didn't

know

when

she

was

tellingIt"

keep

11

it on the hush and

not tel-l

il€

r

they didn'

t know

I

was

standing

12

right behind them,

And

I distinctly

heard

her tel-l

-

13

"Don't

teIl

Bruce that

you're

going,

because

you know how he

L4

is.

tt

15

L6 0

Did

you say

anything

to either

one

of

them

because

you

l7 were

standing

there?

18

A

No, not a

word.

19

20

0

Did

you

say

anything

afterwards?

27

A

No,

just

included

it

in my

EEO

complaint.

22

23

O

Event

Ll

z April 21st,

2009,

lt".

I

berated

you

24

about

your

hostile

work

environment

and stated

"I

need

to

talk

PETERSON

REPORTING

-251

-

25

PAGE

68

OE

109

6B



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

t4

15

16

71

18

79

20

2t

22

23

24

25

to

you

about

your

l-ittle

situation,

it

would

be

in

your

best

interests,

"

which

you

perceived

as

a threat.

How

did

Ms.

berate

you?

A

She

actually

came

over to the building 507, which is

rare,

she

rarely

comes over

there,

She came

to the

front

desk

and said

that

she

needed

to

talk

to me

about

my

little

situati-on.

And

I

j

ust looked

at her

and

I didn't

know

what

she

was

talking

about.

And

she went

on to say

that

it

would

be in

my

best interests if I

come

over

and

talk

we

sit

down

and

we

talk about it.

And

then

she went

on

to

sdy,

you

know,

"because

f

donrt

want

you

to

have a hostile

work

environmenL.

"

And

then

she left.

So

shortly thereafter,

I sent

her an e-mail

where

f

told her now

I had realized

what

she

was

talking

about and I

didn't.

know

who had

informed her

that I

had filed an

EEO

complaint. But

at this

time I

was

no 1onger

willing to sit

down

and talk to

her,

because

these

events

I had filed

a complaint

oor

it had

been

almost a

year,

and every

t.ime

I've

told

her

she

I

s

never

done anything

about.

it.

O

Why

do

you

believe

you

were subjected

to a

hostile

work

environmenL on

the basis

of

your

race or

color:

When

in

April

2OO9

Ms.

-

berated you

about

your

hostile

work

PETERSON

REPORTING

-252-

PAGE 69

OF 109

69



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10

t1

\2

13

L4

15

16

L1

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

environment

?

A

One

I

I think it's because

Ms.

was upset

because

I

f

iled

an

EEO complaint

.

Two,

j-t

'

s

because

I am

African American.

And

again,

ily

coworkers

were

females,

t,hey

were hispanic, and they were

light

skinned,

and

she

favored

them

and she

showed

curry

towards

them.

And

I

kept

report,ing

it

and

complaining

about

all

of it.

O

In

Event

18:

Is

April 21Lh, 2OOg,

nr.I

held

a

staff

meeting

in

which she

singled

you

out

and blamed

you

for

the clinic's

failure

and

problemSr

including

sayi-ng

you

had

made

t.he

cl-inic

inaccessible

and

that

you

should

Iet

I

d"

you

shoul-d

l-et,

"I

do

what

she

was

brought

over

to do.

"

or.

ilwas

present,

-was

present,

was

present.

was

present,

was

there,

Were

Yes

.

other

clinic

clerks

there,

too?

Myself,

and

lwas

A

had

all of

available

Who was

in this

staff

This staff

meeting

was

the

MRI

technicians,

meeting?

an

entire

staff

meeting.

the staff

nurse Mia

was

II

O

A

present.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-253-

PAGE

10

oE

109

10



1

O

And how

did

o=.Ilsingle

you

out?

2

A She came

right

out and said

that,

you

know, I

had made

3

t,he

clinic

inaccessible.

And

that

we were receiving

too

many

4

complaint

s

about

phone

cal,l-s and

wait

times

.

And

she

said

t,hat

5 she

brought

again, she

said

j-n

front

of

the entire

staff

6

that she

brought-

over

to

do

what she

brought

her

over

1

to do,

which

was

to do

a better

job

and

to turn

the

clinic

B around.

'

However'r'

before

she

broughtlover,

the

10 clinic's

performance averages were

already

in a

seven-

to

11

ten-year

low.

And

j-n

a

period

of 60

to

90

days,

I had

improved

t2 that average

by over 30

percent.

So I

had disagreed

with

her

13

that the clini-c

was inaccessible,

because

I

had changed

what

the

L4

clinic was doing in a matter

of 90

days.

And

they

hadn't

had

15

these

type of

performance

ratings

or

numbers

in

almost ten

LG

years.

L1

18

0

How

did

she

believe

that

you

made

the clinic

19 inaccessibl-e?

20

A

Honestly,

I

have no

idea. Because

the cl-inic

was

not

2l

inaccess

j-b1e.

Again,

the

reason

that

I

went

through

so

much

22

hostility at

work was because

I made the clinic

too

accessible.

23 I

added, dt the

time I started

they

were only

seeing

somewhere

24

between

six

to eight

patients

a

day,

shortly

after

I arrived,

I

PETERSOi{

REPORTING

-254-

17

25

PAGE

1I

OF

10

9



1

increased

that from

eight

to 25

. That

I

s a big

difference.

2

That

'

s a

big

j

rrrnp.

And

they did almost

25

patients in a

12-hour

3 shift.

4

5

0

Is that

why

the

techs

were complaining,

that

you

had

6

increased the

patients?

7

A Yes.

B

9

a

Who

gave you

permission

to

do that?

10 A

That.

was

D=.

I It was

she

sent us

an

11 e-mail

and

a lett,er saying

that

she

what. they

were

do

j-ng

i

s

72

they scheduled

patients

on the

hour for

45

minutes;

for example,

13

the first

patient

will

be at 7

:30, it will

be from

7 : 30 to

B;

L4

the

B:00

patient

will

be from

B

to

B:45,

and

so

on and

so on.

15 V{hen

I started,

she changed

the

hours

of the

schedule

to

be

16

every

hal-f

hour;

she

wanted

a patient to

be

scheduled

every

hal-f

tl

hour.

So

in

doing

so,

that

made

two

patj-ents every

hour on the

18 hour;

so

B, B:30, 9, 9:30

on

to

the end

of

the

shift.

That

19 resulted in

about

20

to 25

patients

a day.

20

2L

O

And

what. was brought

in

to

do?

22 A Originally she stated

that

Herlinda

was

to

come

over

23

and

do

nothing

but clear

up

the backtog.

24

25

PAGE

72

0F

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-255-

12



1

Q

What did the backlog consist of?

2 A

Nearly

15

years

of

unscheduled

patients.

They

had

a

3 book fog

that

dates

all the way

back

do

7999.

4

5

O

And was

she able to

do

that?

6 A Not at all.

Actually

she made

more of

a

backlog.

1

B

O

How

did

she

make

more

of a

backlog?

9

A She

had

'no

clue what

she

was

doing.

Scheduling

for

10

MRI

was

totally

di

f

f

erent

than

scheduling

j-n x-ray

.

And

she

11

started off

working

in

the

X-ray

Department;

so

when she came

L2

over

to our

department,

both

I

and

r trj-ed

to

show

her the

13 best

way

to schedule these

patients;

however,

she

thought that

t4

she

had

the

authority and

t.he

better

know how,

she did

what she

15

wanted

to

do. So

because,

agai-n, she

was

the

favorj-te and

she

76WaSbroughtoverbyboththeServiceChiefandDtheAo,

l1

so

what

could

I

do?

1B

Lg

0

Event

19:

You

state, May

7th,

2OOg,

Mr.

Iagain

20

threatened

you,

and

although

you

reported

it, to

date

management

27 has not taken

any

action.

22 What

was

the threat in May 7th,

2009?

23 A

On

May

7th

,

2OOg,

Mr.

Iwas

upset

because

he

24

was

again

upset

because

of the

schedule;

there

were

t.oo

many

PETERSON

REPORTING

-256-

25

PAGE

13 OF

10 9

13



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

9

10

11

75

L1

1B

L9

24

25

0

A

patients

on

the

schedule,

and

he

was

get.ting

tired

from

working

too

hard.

He said

he

made

a

reference to

that

he

was

going

to

go

out.side

and

bust

my

windows

out in my

car.

And then

he

started to

laugh

and

then

he

walked

off.

B VA

Pol-ice.

And who

did

you

report

this

threat

to?

I

report,ed

that

to

E

and

I

went

over to the

O

You said

you

followed

procedure and

went

to

your

PETERSON

REPORTING

-257

-

12

other

previous

incidents

that I had

reported,

that this

was

some

13

type

of

work

place

harassment

and

they, one,

suggested

that I

L4

cont.act EEO.

15

O

And

what

happened when

you

went over to the

VA

Pol-ice?

A

The

VA

Police

told

me

that they

felt

that

all- the

How

were

they

aware

of the other

incidents?

f

had made contact

with

the

VA Police

before.

And I

had

asked

you

earl-ier if

you

contacted

VA

Police

20

and

you

said

rror

you

went

to the

supervisor.

2L

A

No, f

had

stated I went

to

them before,

but

however,

22

they

always

referred me

back

to

the

EEO.

23

O

A

14

PAGE

14

OF

109



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

L2

13

l4

15

15

L1

1B

t9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

supervisor.

Irilhen did

you

first

go

to

the VA

Po1ice about

ur-f

A f

contacted

the VA

Police

about

Mr.

Ili.

February

2008

long

to call

contacted the

came

over

and

.

And

that is

when

I

was

told that I

waited

too

them,

and

that

I

shoul-d

contact

my supervisor.

I

0

Mr.

Clark

A

me

to

go

O

A

VA

Police

after

I

contacted

-

andl

said he wasn't

going

to do

anythi-ng.

And

again,

dj-d

you

contact

the

VA

Police

when

tol-d

you

he

had

a

gun

in the

car?

No, that.'s when I

went

straight tolwit.h

that.

Why

didn't

you

go

to

the

police?

Because

I

I

d already

gone

to

them

before

and they told

to

my

supervisor.

0

But this involved

a

gun

this time,

that

as

a

physical

threat?

A WeI1, the first

threat

he made

was

when

he

threatened to whoop

my

ass, that's

a

mean, it

only

takes one

time

t.o be

told

no.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-258-

0

okay

Has

Mr.

-hreatened

any

other employees?

why

didn't

you

take

a

physical-

threat,

big threat.

I

PAGE

75

OE

109

15



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

l2

13

L4

15

16

11

1B

L9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

A

Not that

IIm

aware

of,

no.

0

And

why

do

you

believe

you

were subj ected

to

a hostile

work

environment/harassment

on

the basis of

your

race, color,

or

gender:

When

on

May 7th,

2009, Mr.

Iagain

threatened

you

and

although

you

reported it,

management

did

not

take

any

action?

A I

report

this

incident

I reported

to

via

e-mail,

and

h'e responded

asking

me

for

a copy

of

the

police

report

.

He

didn't

contact

me

after

that

.

He

didn't call

or

come

over

to see

if there

was

actually

any

type

of

physical

contact,

nothing

what,soever. Again,

is

African

American,

blue

eyed, he

has

straight curly

haired,

he's

very

Iight skinned.

I am short,

baId, dark skinned,

and

African

American.

And

any

inci-dents

that

I

've

ever

had

with

they always favor

and

they don't

do

anything

to

him.

He receives

no

type of

admonishment

or

disciplinary

action.

O

Do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected

to

hostile

work


in

reprisal for

your

EEO

activity:

When

on May

l,

2009,

Mr.Iagain threatened

you,

and.

although

you

reported

it

management

took

no

action?

A

Yes.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-259-

16

PAGE 16

OF

109



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

L4

15

76

L1

1B

19

20

2t

22

23

24

25

O

A

And

why?

Because I

had

already

f had already

filed

my

EEO

complaint

on

April

15th,

and

lt

had already

been over on

more

than

one

occasion

wanti-ng

to talk

about

the

complaint

and

saying that

we coul-d resolve

it

somehow

in-house.

And I

t.hink

when

I

decided

when

I

said

no

it

j

ust

made things

worse.

O

And

was

a

police

report.

actually

filed

in

May

of 2009?

A No. I

went

to the

VA

Police Department,

I spoke

with

three different police officers,

and

they all told

me

that. this

was

some

type of

work

place

harassment

and

I

should

go

over

to

EEO

and

file

a

complaint.

with EEO,

which

is

when

I then

amended

my

complaint.

0

And

you

amended

your

complaint

to

include

A

The

May

1

incident.

0

Okay.

Event 20: May

8,

2009t

nr.I

called

you

to

inform

you

that she

had

a solution

to

your problem,

which

was to

move

you

to a cl-oset in

building

500

away

from

everybody

else.

She

told

you

if t,his

did not

work

she

would

put

you

in

an area

with

PAX,

and

she

did

not

know

what

else to

do.

And

it is

easier to

get

rid

of a

scheduler

than

to

lose

a

tech.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-260-

PAGE

11

OE

10

9

17



1 A

Yes.

2

3

0

Vflhat did

nr.I

say

the

problem

was?

4 A

They

stated

what

t.he

problem

was,

but

she

referred in

5

a

previous

staff

meeting

that we

had,

that she

was aware of the

6

problems

within the cl-inic.

So

on this

particular occasion,

1

actually

r

called

,r.Iao

ask

her

about

the

patients

B

I

don't remember

what

the

quest

j-on

was

but

it

was

about

a

9

patient.

and

she

'stated,

"Oh,

f

'm

glad

you

called

fiter f needed

10 to talk to

you

anyway."

And

she

went

on

to say

that

she didn't

know

what

else

L2 to do, however,

she thought

the solution to

t.he

problem wou1d

be

13

she had a closet

and

she clearly

stated

she

had a closet

14

in

500

in

the

basement

and

t.hey were

going

to drag

a

phone

and a

15

computer

into t.his closet and

I should be

able

to

do my

work

76

there.

And

then she

went

on

to sdy,

if that

didn't

work,

she

18 would

put

me in an area of PAX.

Now, PAX

are

the

computer

19

people

and they

do all

the

images

and

scanning

for

the

x-rays

20 and

MRIs

and CAT scans

within

the

department.

And

they

work

in

21

a little

closet as

wel1,

that is

completely

filled

with

computer

22

equipment,

it barely holds

them.

So she

said

if

the

closet

23 didn't work,

she

was

going

to

put

me in

there

with

PAX.

24

25

11

L1

PETERSON

REPORTING

-261

-

1B

PAGE 78

OF

109



1

O

And

what about

the

remark

of

getting

rid of

a

2

scheduler

than to lose a tech?

3 A

That remark,

getting

rid

of the

scheduler

rather

than

4thetech,isregardinga].]-theremarkSEhadmade

5

toward

me. Because

I

had

confronted

Dr.

Iafter

this

6 last

threat,

and

I

said

this

is

one time

too

many,

and even

1

though most

people

perceive

it

to be a

j

oking

matter,

that I

I

didn'

t

I didn' t take it

as a

j

oke.

And she

said she

coul-dn' t

9 afford to

l-ose

the

tech

because

the techs

do

the

work and the

10

schedulers

are a

dime

a

dozen, she can

just

replace

a

scheduler.

1t_

72

0

V[hy

do

you

believe

you

were

subj

ected

to a

hostile

13 work

environment

/harassment

on the basis

of

your

race, color, or

L4

gender:

When on

May

B,

2009, Dr.

-called

you

to

inform

15

you

of

her solution?

L6 A

Again,

because

I'm African

American,

dark

skinned,

11

male,

and she also

curries

favor with the

hispanic

and the

18

primarily

female

coworkers.

And

again,

she

has

a

working

19 ref

ationship

with

-because

he's

been there

over 30

20

years

and

she's

been

there

way

much

longer

than

iler she's

been

27

there,

what,

t.en and 15

years

.

Their relationship

compared

to

22

the

one

I

have

with her is

totally

different.

23

24

O

Do

you

believe

you

were subj ected

to

a

hostile

work

25

PAGE

19

0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-262-

19



t

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

t2

13

L4

15


in

reprisal for

A

Yes.

O

And,

again,

why?

A

Because even she

stated

in-house

and at

this

point

I

was

your

EEO

activity?

she

wanted to

resolve

this

unwilling

to.

0

A

And how

did

she want

to resolve

it

in-house?

By

moving

me

into

building 500

into

a closet.

O

Event

2l: May 11th,

about

your

lunch schedule

and

2009, or.Iberated

you

not

providing

coverage.

How

did Or.llberate

you?

A On thi

s

particular

date it

was

another

j-ncident

where

and myself

had

gone

to

l-unch,

and before

we

left

16

I

was

still

present

and her

l-unch break

started

at

1:00;

and

as

usual,

-

would l-eave

between

12:30

and

72'.45,

which

meant

there

was

no

coverage for the

front

desk

and for the

reception area.

When this

happened,

this

particular

incident,

Dr.

-was

coming

through the clinic

and

she

didn't

see

anyone

at

the front

desk.

confronted

us about

it.

responsibility to

So

when

Iand

I

returned,

she

that's

when

we told

her

that

it

was

provide

coverage

whil-e

we were

on

L1

1B

L9

20

2

22

23

24

25

And

PETERSON

REPORTING

-263-

PAGE

BO OE

109

BO



.

1

our

lunch

break.

2

3

O

And what

was

her

response

to that?

4 A

She

sent

an

e-mail stating that

sent

an e-mail-

that

5

stated she sent an

e-mail

that

said,

"Please

refrain from

6

taking breaks and

lunch

at

the

same

time as

your

co1league

so

7

that the

phones

or front

desk

at

MRI

may

remain

covered

for

the

B

day.

Thank

you.

"

9

10 a Okay. I

need

a

copy

of that e-mail

as

well.

11

A

Okay.

t2

,

13

O

Do

you

know if

I

was

ever

spoken to about

her

1-4 lunch

breaks?

15 A Not

that

I'm

aware

of, no.

76

L'l

O

The

clinic, the MRI

Imaging Cfinic,

is it

run by

the

18 Imaging Department?

19 A Yes.

20

21

Q

Before, many

years

ago

--

f'm a long

time

VA

22

employee

--

clinics

--

the

cfinic itself,

the clinic

clerks

were

23

under

Medicaf

Administration,

even though

they

worked

in

24 different cl-inic areas

and

not under

the

department

of

the

25

PETERSOAL

FEPORTING

-

t

o+-

PAGE

81

OF 109

B1



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

16

t7

1_B

79

20

2L

22

23

24

25

Mq

(A

clinic.

O

actually

minute.

A

Right.

So

you're

not

under

Imaging

Yes.

under

Medical

Department

?

Administration,

you

are

A

MS.

-

I

r need to

go

off

the

record

for a

J

okay,

we'lI

go

off the recordr-

discussion off

the record

was held.

)

MS.

I

I

we'lr

go

back on

the

record.

to Event

222

May

cl-inic

duties,

Ms .

[Ve

went of

f

the

record

j

ust a

second ago

for the

union

representati-ve

and investigator

to

discuss

the

structure

of the

VA now,

where

Medical AdminisLration

does

not

run clinics,

that

the

clinics

are run by the

departments

in

which

they

are in and

the employees are employees of

that, department..

BY vts.I

0

And

wefll

go

on

suggested that

you

rotate

wonrt

work

here.

Irm

not

13,

2009

,

af

t.er

you

a slave, and

you

don't

tell

me

what

to

do.

"

And

then

Ms.

said that she

was

in

agreemenL

with

you,

but

however,

because Ms.

shou1d modify the

rotation.

bj ected,

that

they

PETERSON

REPORTING

-265-

said

"

I

PAGE

B2 OE

109

B2



A

1

2

What duties

did

Okay.

At

the

ti

you

want

to rotate?

was

brought

over,

both

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

people

would be

periodically

gone

so

the

areas

that

were

not

covered.,

you

cross

trainJ-ng

roles

Per

area

Per

PETERSON REPORTING

-266-

3

Il

and

or.I

said

she

was

only

there

to

do the

patient,back1og.However,-Ibegantocomet"Iand

I

and

ask

us

about

our

daily

duties

and she

wanted

to

start

doing some of those daily

duties.

So

I explained

to

her,

you

know,

how we

did

things in

the

MRI clinic.

I think she

was

either

overwhelmed

or

not

prepared

for

the

amount

of

wor'k

that. we

actually

do

in

that

clinic.

So

she

told

Dr.

Illthat

she

only

wanted

to

work on

the

backlog,

which is

where she

made

the

statement,

nobody's

going

to teIl

her

what to

do.

So

I

sent

an e-maj-l

to Dr.

-

fI-

L4

I

and with

a suggestion

that

we should

15

rotate

the

f

ront

des

k

position

which is

Lhe

posit,ion

that I

16

worked

every

day

every three

months

or

once a quarter,

so

Ll

that

everyone

in t,he clinic

all the clerks

in

the cl-inic

got

18 an opportunity to

work

the front

desk,

and

we cou1d

all,

you

Lg

know,

rotate certain

positi-ons

or

duties.

20

So I sent her the

e-mail on the

13th,

May

13th,

and

2L

Ihad

responded

that she

was

all for

rot.ating,

but

she

22

wanted

us

to

remember

that

23 that we would have to

cover

24 know,

if

we

couldn't do the

25

PAGE

83

OF

109

B3



1

2

3

day.

Then

she

what

we

could

Then

said that she

wanted

to

meet this

week

to

see

aII

agree upon.

the

next

e-mail-

or

nexL time

that

I

spoke

to

6

7

I

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

76

l7

18

t9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

4 f,

she

said that

she

wanted

to

modify

the rotation

because

5

f

had

objected.

Then

r sent

I

r.,

e-mail about

the

rotation, and

she then said

that she

was

going

to contact

HR

and

the union for

permission

to

redo

the

work

assignment.

And

shortly after

that that

was May 26th

so

shortly

after

that

I

was

detailed a

week later.

And

when

you

were

detailed who stayed

in the

clinic?

f

andf-

O

And

did

Ms.

A Yes,

she ass

assume

any

of

your

duties?

umed

the front desk

position.

O

Anybody

working

the

backlog

now?

A No,

not that I

Im

aware

of .

0

Event

23: May

28th, 2009,

you

became

aware

that

management had decided

to

modify

their

previous

agreement

.to

PAGE

84

OF

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-267

-

the

rotation and she

did

no

one

told her

what

to

And

her

ob

j

ect.ions

were

she

was

not f

or

not want

to

be

worked like a

sl,ave and

do.

0

A

84



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

76

L1

18

79

20

2t

22

23

24

25

move

two

desks

up

front

and alternate

duties

between

you

and

Ms.

And

is

that

what

you

were

j

ust tal-king

about?

A

Yes.

O

And

what

was

the

agreement

about.

moving

two desks up

front

?

A

Originally

okay,

I'11

back

up

here.

The

original

agreement

was

that

we were

all

going

to

rot.ate.

And

basically

it

was

the person at the front desk, which

was

the position

that.

I had, I

was

responsibl-e for

maintaining the

office

supply,

I

was

also

responsible

for maj-ntaining

the

printer.

And let

me

explain

that.: AII the

consults

that come

in

the

MRf

cl-inic

depends

on one

central

printer

in the front

office, which

is

the desk that I

occupied.

So

I

was

responsible

for clearing all of the consults

and

the fil-e according to

what

body

part was

requested;

meaning

the

upper

torso,

the

head,

et cetera,

et cetera

.

Then I went

on to

say that

we

should

the

person

at

the front desk

was

responsible for walk-in

patients, scheduling

wal

k-in

patients

or

doi-ng

their

procedures right on

the

spot . f

also suggested

that

we

should

rotate the

days

that

we

empty

the

voicemails,

because we receive

almost

a

hundred

voicemails

a

dry, that there

coul-d

j

ust be

one

person

who

would

be

PETERSOi{

REPORTING

-268-

PAGE

85 OE

109

B5



1

responsible

for

doing

the

voicemails.

She

responded

that she

had

agreed

to

that.

And then

3

on

May 26th, she

said that.

she wanted

to

modify

the assigned

4 duties

and

the tour.

And

what

her

and

Dr.

-

come

up

5 with, was

that

they

were

going

to

move

f

out of the

6 office that she

was

in

and put

her

up

in the front

area of

the

1

office

where I was at;

however,

I

was

to

maintain

the duties

B that I

had

and she

was

to

do

the backlog.

so

r

wr'ote

an

e-mail

to

r

asking

how

was

this

a

10 modification of the rotation of duties

when

all

she

did

was

move

11

lr

from

office

A

to office

B and she

stil1

had

the

same

L2

job

and

same

duties?

13

L4

O

And

what

was her

response?

15 A Her

response

was

that

she

was

going

to

go

to

the

union

16 to

ask

for

permission

to

redo

the work

assignment

and

the

L1 rotation.

So

I'm

sorry,

she

said

she

had already

contacted

18

the union.

So I contacted

the

union to

make sure

this

was

on

19

the up

and

up.

And

the union

stated that

f

had did

no such

20 request.

2L

So

I

sent

her

an

e-mail stating

I

had

contacted

the

22

uni-on

and

there was no

such

request. This

is

she

wrot.e

back

23

saying

"this

is not. a reassignment"

--

Iwrote

back

24

stating

'--

"this

is not

a

reassignment,

the

rotat

j-on

is

f

ine

PETERSON

REPORTING

-269-

B6

25

PAGE 86

OF

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1

2

3

4

tr

J

5

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

L4

t6

t1

1B

20

2t

22

23

24

25

a

A

O

A

A

but

we'I1

need

to

clarify the roles

and

duties

and

duties

related to

covering

areas

during absences.

Dr.

f

i"

sending

a

mes

sage

out to have us meet to

discuss

the

dut

j-es

at

the

proposed

rotation

of sites.

V[e

had

requested

with

t.he

union

to

be

able to rotate individuals

and

this requires a

two-week

notice

prior

to

implementing

the change.

15 certain

And

PSA,

what's

Ms.

j

ob

title?

Patient

Services Assignment.

Grade

?

GS-5,

st,ep

one

.

Does her

j

ob

description

department

?

I

have

no idea.

say

that

she's

assigned

to

a

Does

your

j

ob description

say

you

t

re

assigned

to

A

Yes

t9 Imaging?

O

A

Is Imaging

under

Yes.

the

Radiology?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

0-

PAGE 81 OE

109

B1



t

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

t4

15

t6

L1

1B

79

20

2L

22

23

24

25

O

And this

brings us

to

Event 242

Where

on

May

26th,

2OOg,

you

became

aware

that

Ms.

I

had

not

been

truthful

about

receiving

permission

to

rotate

your

duties

from

the

union.

A

Yes.

0

And

you

touched on

that

just

a

little

bit.

How did

you

f

j-nd

out

that

she

was

not

truthful

about

receiving

permi

s

s

ion?

A

I

conta'cted

the union.

And

the

union

had

said that

I

had

not

submitted any

requests

to

modify

the rotation

or

the

work

reassignment.

0

And what

does

the

union agreement

say

about

rotat.ing

the employees'

duties?

A I'm

aware of it, but I don'L

know

what

it

states

offhand, I don't

have

it with

me.

O

In Event

25:

May 28,

2009

t

you overheard

Ms.

Itell

Mr.

-

that

he

should

take a

detour

from

you,

not

get

stereotyped

with

you, and that

"he

has

his own

skeletons

in the

past,

Lf

you

know

what

I mean."

She

cautioned

Mr.

I

t" think about

his

kids,

and

told

him that

as a

resulL

of

you being EEO

driven she

had

asked

Human

Resources

to

prepare

a

request

to

rotate

you.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

1-

BB

PAGE

88

OF

109



1

2

3

4

E

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

L4

15

16

71

1B

79

20

27

22

23

24

25

A Yes.

And

you

had

talked

about

that a little

bit earlier.

Yes.

O

And

how did

you

find

out

about

this

conversation

O

A

O

between

Ms.

I

and Mr.

-

A

The

conversation that

she

had

with okay,

so

l-et

me

back up.

The day' t.hat

she

made

the conversation,

this is

the

day

that

she

did

our

mid-year

performance

appraisals.

And

this

preceded

a

meeting that

she had

with

everyone

in

the clinic,

Dr'

I,

I,

I'I,

andmvserf'

she

had

this

meeti-ng

with

I

in the

break room

and I

didnrt

know they were

in

the

break

room.

So as Itm

approaching the break room,

I

can hear her

talking

to

him.

Now,

in the break

room

is the microwave, all the kitchen

appli-ances

,

and the

tabl-e

.

So

as f

'm

wal-

king

up,

I hear

her tell

him that

I'm

EEO

driven,

he

should

take

a detour

from

rrer

because God

forbid he

get

sLereotlrped with

me because

I

rm

so

EEO

driven.

And

she

told him that he had

his

own skeletons

j-n

the

closet,

because we

all

know

about his

past,

and he

shoul-d

reaIIy think

about

his

kids

And does

Mr.

I

have

prior

EEo

activity?

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

2-

PAGE 89 OF

109

B9



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

6

L7

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

A Not that

I know

of.

O

And

did

you

tell Mr.

il

you

heard

what

O

A

O

him?

Did

Mr.

Irespond to

Ms.

Icomments

to

O

Ms.

I said to

him?

A

Yes.

And what

did he

say?

He

was

in

shock

that, she said

it.

A He

pretty

much

he

pretty

much

said

that,

you

know,

he

was

under

not not

directly

not directly

to

what

she

said.

I

pretty

much heard

him

say that,

you know, he

was under

a

lot

of stress

and there

was

a

lot

of

there

seemed

to be a

lot

of

tension

in the

cl-inic.

And

he

was

j

ust

doing

his best

to

just

do

his

joh.

Did

you

talk to

Ms.

-

about

his

comments to

Mr-

-

A No.

I

amended

my

complaint and

submitted

it.

0

Why do

you

believe

you

were

subjected

to a

hostile

work


on

the

basis

of

your race,

co1or,

or

PAGE

90 OF

10 9

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

3-

90



1gender:WhenonMay2B,2009,youoverheardMs.ffimake

2 these comments

to

Mr.

I?

3

A Because

of the fact

that I

was

raising

presenting

4 all of the

issues

that

were

going on

in the cl-inic, al-l

the

5

previous

threats.

The

fact

that.,

aqain,

I'm African

American/

6 I'm

dark skinned, I

rm

a male,

and she shows

favoritj-sm

towards

7

women. And

women

clerks at

the time,

the clinic

just

all

B happened to

be

female and

hi-spanic

and light

skinned.

10 O

Do

you

believe that

Ms.

Imade

these

comments

11

to Mr.

Ii"

repri-sal for

your

EEO

activity?

72 A Oh,

yes,

f

had already

filed.

13

74

O

Event

26:

May

28th

,

2009, when

she

gave

him

when

15

she

gave you

your

mid-year performance

review,

Ms.

I

76

stated

you

should

take the medi-cal

coder

class

offered

at the

VA

Ll

because

outside

hospital-s

are

paying

big

bucks

for

coders.

18

A Yes.

19

20

O

Has she

made simil-ar

comment

s

to

other

employees

?

91

2t

A

Yes. She

made

the

same commenL

to

I.

22

23

O

And

why?

24 A I

have no idea.

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

4-

PAGE 9I

OE

10

9



1

O

And why

did

she make

this

comment

to

you?

2 A

WeII,

she's

been

making

this

comment to

me since 2008.

3 She has been

telling

me for

the

longest

that I should

think

4

about

going

elsewhere,

the

VAI

s not for

rtr€r

and

I

can

make

a lot

5

more

money on

the outside.

6

1

O

Did

she

ever

say

why

the VA

was

not

for

you?

B A No.

Each

time she

normally makes the comment

whenever

9 I

ask her about additional dutiesr

r€sponsibilities

orr

you

10

know,

taking

on

other

assignments

like

Planetree

or

Systems

11 Redesign, that

I

s

when

she

makes

that comment.

t2

13

a

Event

21:

June

4th,

2OA9t

Dr.

-berated

you

L4 about

an

overbooked research

patient.

15

How

did Dr.

-

berate

you?

15 A

She pul1ed

me

to

an of

f

ice we1l,

she

came

over

to

1

the

clinic,

actually to

go

to

507, and she

said

she

wanted

to

18 speak

with me.

And we

went

into

an office

that, she

uses

in

9 building 507.

And

she

told me

that I

overbooked

a

patient

and

I

20

had

used

I

name,

in

essence

giving

authority

or

2L

permission

to

overbook this

patient

by

using

-

name.

22 And

she said that

that.

was

unacceptable.

23

And

she

went

on to

say: rf

-has

made

this

24

mistake in the

past,

it's been

because

she misheard

the

proper

25

PAGE

92 0E

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

5-

92



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10

11

72

13

L4

15

t6

L1

1B

19

20

27

22

23

24

25

instructions

on

how

to book

patients.

name;

this

patient

was

actually

schedule

by

my

name.

So when

you

go

into Vista

or

show

you

that

this

patient

was scheduled

for

an

Iog-in,

under

my

account and

my

name.

But

she

was

unacceptable,

because

on the

schedul-e

f

reference

But,

I

explained

to Dr.

-

that this

patient

was

inot

overbooked

booked

on

the

CPRS,

it wilI

exam

under

by

said that this

O

A

overbooked

by

I."

O

And if it

states

that,

how

was

she

not

overbooked

or

PAGE 93

OF

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

6-

Actually,

I

was

the

one who

had

spoken

with

the

cl-inician

about,

booking

this patient

an

exam.

And

I

received

an

e-mail f

rom

the cl-inic,

stating

that

that

was

a

conversation

that

she

had had

with

I.

And

then shortly

thereafter,

Dr.

I

had

stated

that booking

the

patient

on

the schedule

was

acceptable and

everything was

fine, and

that it

was

actually

her

mistake

and

the technician's

mistake

for

giving

me

so

much

grief

about

this

patient.

However,

the

only

part

that

she

was

upset

about

was

that I had

put

initials

on

the

schedule.

And

had

you

put

-

initials

on the schedul-e?

patient

es. In

parentheses

it

says

"research

93



1

the

patient was

not

overbooked

bV

L,

again?

2 A

Herl-inda is

the

one

who had

the

conversation

with both

3

the

patient

and the cl-inician.

She

'

s the

one who

told

the

4 patient that his

exam

was

going

to

be

at that particular

time.

5

What

she

didn

'

t

do,

was

actually

go

int.o

the

system and schedule

6 him

so that

he

would

actually

show

up

on the

printed

schedule

1

when

you

present

it.

When

the clinician

contacted

me

and

related

to me

what

9

was

going

oor bef'ore

I

booked

the

patient

I

cal-Ied

10

because

she

was

filling in for

someone

over

in building

500

at

11

another

department,

and

I

had

asked

her if she

had this

12

conversation.

And

she recalled

it

and

said,

"Yes.

"

13

And

I told her,

"We11,

you

forgot to

book

the

patient,

74

so

I

will now

put

him

on

the schedu1e at

4:00

p.m.

"

That

was

15

the

end of the conversation.

t6 But

when

f

put

him

on the schedule,

the technicians

l1 were

upset

because they

had

two

4:00

patients

and

a

4:30

18

patient.

So

their

gripe

was

they had to

do

three

patients

one

19

hour.

v{hen they made

that known,

they

went

to

Dr.

-f

with

20 it,

then Dr.

-

assumed

that

I had

overbooked

this

patient

2L

with

no one's

authority and

it

was

causing

aII these

problems.

22

23

O

And

when

Dr.

S

apologized

to

you,

was

that

in

24

an

e-mail?

25

PETERSON

REPORTING

-277-

PAGE

94 OE

109

94



1

A

No.

That

was verbal-ly.

And

T

did

ask

her

if

this

was

2

considered to

be

a

counseling

session

and she

said

"Yes."

And

3 then

she

stated,

"Oh,

I forgot

you

were entitled to

a

union

4

rep.

"

So I

sent

her

an

e-maiL

after

that

saying

I considered

6

our

conversation

to

be

a counseling

session

and

that I

would

1

write a

Report

of

Cont.act

as

a rebuttal

to

what had

happened.

B

9

O

And

is that Event.

2Bz

June 5th,

2009,

Dr.

I

10

denied

your

request

for a

union

rep

present

before

she

proceeded

11

with

the

meeting?

L2

A

No,

June 5 is

a detail.

13

L4

0

What happened

on

the

June

5,

2009

meeting?

15

A June

5th

,

2009

at

about 11

:

0 0

j-n

the

mornlng or so

r

16 the

Service

Chief

Secretdry,

I

she

called

me

over

in

507

Ll

and told

me

Dr.

I

wanted

to talk to

me and would

r

please

18

come over. I

was

the only

clerk in

the

clinic,

I

was

not

79

there

and

I

was

not

there

r

so

I

tof

d

her t.here

was

no

20

coverage.

2L She

put

me

on

hold

and

came

back and

said,

"I

says

22

she

doesn't

care,

9et

over

here

right away."

23

I

hung up

the

phone.

I

went

in the

back

and

told

the

24

tech

I

had to

go

over

to see Dr.

{J.

r

went

over to

500,

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

8-

25

PAGE

95

OF

109

95



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

74

15

t6

L1

1B

T9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

I

'm

in the

front

lobby

at the

time.

f didn't

know

his

name,

now

I do,

I

saw

walk

out of

office

with

another

gentleman. The

second

gentleman,

he

sat

down

in the

talk to me. I

walked

into her

down

at

her conference table at

rrrer

you

know,

Itm''detailing

you

office and

we both

start

to sit

her

of

f

j-ce,

and

then

she tell- s

to another

clinj-c

as

of

Monday.

and they

And she

front

chai-rs

in the front lobby, I

stood

right

outside

Dr.

door.

Dr.

f

said

come

in her offices,

she

wants

to

I

then

say, "Dr.

f

f

want

a

union

rep.

"

She

looked at

me

and

she

looked at

both

look

at each

other,

and

then turn

and

look

at

me.

said,

"Anyway

I

I

need

you

to

sign these

damn

papers.

"

And r said,

"Dr.

f;

r

would

tike to

have a

union rep avai-lable.

"

She

didn't answer

me

the

second

ti-me

.

After the

second

time,

T

got

up,

went

over

to

the telephone,

called

over

to the unionfs

officer

Do

one answered.

I then

turned

around

and

t.ol-d Dr.

I,

"No

one

in

the union

is

present,

I

would

l-ike a union

rep before

we

continue,

please.

"

Thatls

when

-

said,

"You

don't

have

to talk

to

her, but

you

can

talk

to me."

So

f walk over

to

him and

I said,

"We11,

sir' excuse

iler who

are

you?"

PETERSON

REPORTING

-27

9-

PAGE

96

OE

109

96



He

flashes

his

badge, long enough

for me

to see

the

2

picture

not

catch

the

name

or department or his title.

He

says,

3

4

"f

'm

il:

from HR.

"

5

O

And

then

what

happened?

Keep

going.

10

answers.

So

I

turn

around.

to

both

Dr.

lf

and

ffir,

11

and said

,

"

I

woul-d l-ike

to have

a union

rep

.

"

72

13

And

Dr.

f|f

goes,

"r'm

detailing

you

anyway.

"

6 A

He

says

hets

ffi

from

HR. And I said,

"We11,

Mr.

:;

1

from HR, I can't talk to

you

either. I

woul-d

like

to

have

a

B union rep.

"

And

he'

s

j

ust standing

there

fooking

at

me.

So

I

9

go

back to

the

phbne

and I

call

over to

the

union

again; no

one

So

I said,

"Okay."

That

was

the end

of that. She

74

didn't say anything.

I didn't

say anything.

ft

got

totally

15

quiet.

So then I said again,

"Can

I

have

a

union

rep?" No one

76 didn't

say

anything.

So

at this time I said,

"Okay."

71 f went over to

the union's office.

And

by the time

f

1Bgottotheoffice,ryandtheotherunionrepSwere

79 herer

so

I told

them

what

had

happened.

20

27

O

And

did

you go

back with

the

union

rep?

22

A

No. I had tol-d them

what had

happened,

and

they

had

23

told

me

that

the

detail-

and the

admini

strati-ve

action

was

24 legitimate.

So

I

went

back

to

my

desk.

When

I

got

to

my

PETERSON

REPORTING

-280-

25

PAGE 91 OF

10

9

97



1office,maybefiveminutes]-ater,mComeSoVerwithan

2

envelope. He

comes

in,

he stops at

my front

desk and he asks

3 ffier

how were

you

doing,

and

I

told

him fine.

And he

goes,

'it

4

says

to give

you

this. "

So

he

pu11s

an

envelope

out of his

back

5

pocket,

and

an

envelope

seal-ed

with

my name on

it

.

And

I

says,

"What

is

this?"

And he

turns to

ffie

r

he

goes,

"You've

been

served.

rr

B

And

he throws the

envelope

at me

and lands

on the

front desk.

9

And

he

starts

lauqhing

and

just

walks

off.

10

So

after he 1eft, I called back to the union office to

11

tell

them

what

happened.

I

opened

up the

envelope

and

there

are

L2

the copies of the detail

and

the authorized

absence,

along with

13

a litt1e

statement

she had

typed

up

that

had said

something

L4

about

at

11:45

she

was

attempting

to detail

me

and

put place

15

me

on

authorj-zed

absence.

And

since I

had

refused

to sign

f

or

16 the

document.s

at that.

moment,

she

was

going to mail

them

to

my

Ll P. O.

box in

Long

Beach.

1B

20

Mr.

I

and

they said that

you

were

going

to

be

detailed,

did

79

0

And when

you

first

met

with Dr.

n

and

2

you

ask them

why?

22

A No.

23

24

O

V[hy

not

?

25

PETERSOi{

REPORTING

-281

-

PAGE 98

OF

109

9B



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

8

9

10

11

l2

13

74

15

t6

71

1B

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

And

why?

A

Again,

because of

the fact that

American,

I'm dark

skinned, Ifm

a

mal-e, I

and

complaints,

and

the simple fact. that

the department,

and

she has

favored

incidents

that

Irve had with

I

'm

black,

I

'ITr

Af

rican

I

ve raised

EEO issues

she favors the

women

in

and

all the

0

Do

you

believe that

Dr.

I

denied

you

union

representatj-on

in reprisal- for

your

EEO activity?

A

Yes.

O

And

why?

A

Because of the simple fact,

again,

I'm

African

American,

ma1e,

dark

skinned,

and she

showed

favori-tj-sm

toward

my

coworkers,

which happened

to be females

and hispanic

and

light

skinned.

O

Event

29

was

addressed

under

Claim

A,

Event

1.

And

Event

30

was addressed

with

Claim

A,

Event

2.

A I

will

like to

say

something.

O

I

fm

not

done

yet

.

A

Okay.

PETERSON REPORTING

-283-

PAGE 10 O

OF 10 9

100



1

O

I'11

ask

what

you

want

to

add.

2

Mr.

Mitchell,

what

is

it

you're

seeking

from

the

EEO

3

process?

4 A Eair

resol-ution.

6

0

$Ihat do

you

consider

a

fair

resolution?

7

A Honestly,

at this

point

f

don't

think it's appropriate

8 that I

should

sit down wilh

any

management officials

at

this

9 facility to try to resolve

these issues.

Because No. 1, I think

10

as

a

supervisor

or a

service

chief, if I

come

to

you

as

an

11

empl-oyee

and

tefl

you

that I

have

these

kind of

issues, I think

12

you

should

want

to do something

about

it

in a

more

timely

13

official-

manner.

And for

them

to wait

until

an

entire

year

before I

15 file

an

EEO complaint,

to

all of a sudden

want to do something

L6 about it, is unacceptable;

especially when

you

I

re invol-ving

t1

threat^s

,

both

physical

,

violent

;

no, that

'

s

unacceptable

.

L4

1B

7e MS.

il,

20 record for

a

minute.

2L MS.

T

22

minute.

23

24

25

Excuse

fler

I

let

me

go

off

the

Okay, we

I

11

go

off

the

record

for a

(A

pause

in

the

proceedings.

)

PETERSON

REPORTING

-284-

MS.

I

I

we're

back

on

the

record.

PAGE

101

OF

10

9

101



I

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

72

13

t4

15

76

L1

18

L9

20

2L

22

23

24

25

BY

MS.

0

you

I

re

O

Okay.

A

This is

think,

based

off

t

And

Mr.

Mitchell, I

'

Il-

ask

you

again:

Vfhat

is

seeking

from

this

EEO

process?

ir

A Okay. In the short

itemized

list, I haven't realIy

come

up with

a

complete

resolution.

my

he

opinion,

what I

think

is

appropriate:

actions

of

Dr.

f

I,

-,

for contributing

and

allowing the hostile

work

environment,

I think

that

those three

should

be

disciplined.

Now,

I have

read

the

handbook,

both

the

VA

handbook

5021

and

the master

agreement

for

the

union,

and

I

Im

quite

wel-l

aware

that

I cannot ask for

this action,

but again,

thJ-s

is

my

opinion. I think

those

three should be disciplined.

They

should

be

removed

from

service. And

they

should

all

be

disbarred

from

any

furt.her

federal employment.

And

I

state that,

because

to allow

an employee

to

be

threatened,

to

be

and

to

be

told that

he's

going

to

be

shot

and

have

his

ass

whooped and

everything

eIse,

and

it's

work

related,

none

of

this is

personal

conf l-ict,

this

is all

work

related.

This

stems from

the

fact that

I do

my

j

ob

and I did

it

PAGE

702

OF

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-285-

702



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

I

9

10

11

12

13

L4

15

t6

l1

1B

L9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

efficiently.

And

for

them

to not

correct

this

behavior

or

discipline

anyone

accordingly or

appropriately,

I find

it

negligent .

So that

'

s the

f

irst

thing that

I

'm

aski-ng

f

or.

The second

thing that I'm asking for is:

An

opportunit,y

to

be able

to

come

to work

and

have

a

hostile

free

work

environment

. I

shouldn'

t be sub

j

ected

to

anlrmore

surveillance.

I shouldn't have I received

l-etters

i-n

the

mall

and

phone

call-s

in

the

mai1, most

recently

f rom

someone

making

appointments

for

me

at the

VA

to

qo

see

mental

health.

I don't

have

mental heal-th issues. I haven't

asked

f

or

any

mental-

heal-th. I

haven'

t contacted

the

Employee

Assistance

Hotline.

So

I

think

it's unfair

for

someone

to

access

my

medical

records

and

make these

appointments,

you

know,

unduly

and

without

my

request.

So

now

I

just

really

I want

to

be

left alone.

Now

,

Lf you're

asking

me

about

any

type

of

monetary

compensation,

to be

honest

with

you,

totally

honest,

just

like I

totd

-

and everybody

el-se

who asks

me

that

question: I

havenlt

even

thought

about.

Because,

to

be

completely

honest

with

you,

this

is not about

money.

This

is

about

everybody

having t.he

same

right,s

as

everyone

else,

to

come

to

work,

do

their

job

stress

free,

hassle free, and

hostile

free.

And

I

have not

had

the

same

privi-leges

that

my coworkers

have.

PETERSON

REPORTING

-286-

PAGE

103

OF

109

103



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

20

2\

O

A

O

A

O

A

Do

you

have

Yes.

those

e-mails?

Okay.

Okay.

I

need

copies

of those,

too.

And

I'm

done,

is

there

anything

el-se

you

want

to add?

Yes.

The

incident.

on

June

5th,

the detail.

0

Okay.

A

They

I

belj-eve

you

asked

me

if

they

had

afforded

me

V{ait a

minute

. Go

ahead.

Vflhen

I came

over

to the union

office

and

f

saw

my

L2 opportunity

for

union representation

or that

manner,

right?

13

L4 That

was

the

one

about

she denied

your

request

for

15

union

rep,

you

went

over

to the union office.

76

A Yes.

What

I

wanted

to

say

was:

When

I

contacted

the

Ll union, actually

when I

came over

to the

union

and

I saw

my

union

18

rep

t9

0

A

22 union repr

w€

were contacted

by

and

23

that's

why

I

sent

this

e-mail to

include

them as

a

witness

in

24

the

e-mail.

25

and stated

what

had

PAGE 10

4

OF 10 9

PETERSON

REPORTING

-287

-

104



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

L2

13

L4

15

75

L1

18

19

20

2L

22

23

24

25

MS.

MS.

MS.

(A

MS.

Hold

on

one

second,

J

Pardon?

You want to

go

off

the

record?

Yeah,

off

the record,

hold on.

the

proceedings.

)

We

I

re

back

on the

record,

-

Y

MS.

I

Dr.

I

stating, again, what?

A

He

sent an e-mail

I

don't

have

it

with

fler

that

one

I don't actual

have it here

he senL the

e-mail-

message

back

stating that

he

was

t.old I

was going

to

have

a union

rep

available.

He

was

told

you

were,

okay.

And

who

told

him that?

He

didn't state

who

had tol-d him

that..

PAGE

105

OE

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-288-

0

A

happened

and

how

come f

didn't

have

a

union

representative

availabl-e.

sent

an

e-mail

stating

that

he

was

aware

of what

had happened

and

that I was

not allowed

to

have

a

union

rep.

0

Did he

say,

"V[hy

you

were

not

allowed

to

have

a

union

rep?

"

A

No.

-

f'

r

pause

in

r

O Mr. Mitchell,

you

received

an

e-mai-l-

message

f

rom

105



.

1

Q

Was

the detail

considered

a disciplinary

action?

2 A I donrt

know.

I

vlewed

it

as

a disciplinary

action.

3

4 O

Did

you

lose

any grade

or

money?

5 A

No.

I

vj-ew

it

as

disciplinary

because

they state in

6

the

first

paragraph

that

I'm

being

detailed

for

inappropriate

7

mj-sconduct.

And according

to VA

handbook

502L,

if

you

detail

B

someone from inappropriate

conduct, it's considered

to

be

a

9 disciplinary

actibn.

10

11

0

And

to

your

knowledge,

are

employees

allowed

to

have

72

union reps if it's a disciplinary

acti-on?

13

A

Yes.

L4

15

O

Anything

el-se

you'd

l-ike

to

add?

L6 A

No,

that

was

it.

71

18

0

Wou1d

you

like

to receive

a

copy

of

your

transcript?

19 A

Yes.

20

2L

O

I

need

to

read

to

you

the

guidelines for

receiving a

22

copy

of

your

transcript.

23 A

Okay.

24

25

PAGE 105

OF

109

PETERSON

REPORTING

-289-

106



1

2

3

4

5

6

1

B

9

10

11

t2

13

L4

15

16

t1

1B

t,

of

Cert,ified

Shorthand

Reporter

for

the State

Californi-a do

hereby certify:

That

the

witness

in the

foregoing

proceedings

was

first

duly

sworn

to Lestify

to

the

truth,

the whole

truth

and

nothing

but

the truth

in

the

foregoing

cause;

that the

proceeding was

taken

by

me

in

machine short.hand

and

later

transcri-bed

into

t14>ewriting,

under

my

direction,

and

that

t.he

foregoing

contains

a true

record

of the testimony

of

the

wit,nes s

.

AI

aceci: Thi s

//1\'/\

ciay

at Riverside,

Cal

j-fornia.

of

c.s.R.

No. 8405

oliver mitchell eeo

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