What is the name of your state? Washington state.
I was a GS-4 federal service employee working for an Indian Health Service agency. I have read that the Civil Rights Act Title VII does not apply to a business or enterprise on an Indian Reservation. However, my termination letter stated that because I was still on probation that the only avenue I had is the EEO. Does this statement about Indian Reservations therefore render the EEO avenue as useless?
If it is available to me, let me ask if I have a claim based on the following two reasons?
(1) Harassment based on discrimination due to skin color and race and/or nationality. I do not distinguish between the latter two.
My position required Indian Preference: I am 1/4 Alaska native. My supervisor told me many times in the first few months of my employment that the opposition and hostility I was facing was due to the fact that my coworkers thought I was white. She told me that among the local tribe the social hierarchy is very strong. Not only was I not of their tribe, but my coloring is very light.
My supervisor told me that she herself had suffered miserable treatment the first few years in the department and that she is not yet “accepted” but barely tolerated even on the surface. She admitted, as a supervisor she had absolutely no power over them, meaning they follow no orders from her.
Another light skinned employee also told me that the hostility she experienced for her first few years was extremely severe. She was finally accepted into the group based on the fact that she was married to a man of the local tribe and has two children with Indian blood.
The harassment I received from my coworkers made my working hours almost unbearable. I was not only subject to their rudeness and ill treatment, and the scapegoat for every mistake made in the department, but was also at the receiving end of many outright and blatant lies.
(2) The second claim that I would make with EEO is reprisal from my supervisor due to a letter I had written that went over her head.
It was from this day forward, that I was also at the receiving end of anything my supervisor could find to be a mistake on my part. After breaking an agency policy, I asked for an employee book that I could read to know what the policies were. I was told both that there is no book and also that if there were, it would be so outdated as to not be of any use to me.
I understand that during a probationary period an employee can be let go for no reason at all. However, instead of doing that, my termination letter stated 3 reasons that were utterly false for grounds to fire me. I was not allowed to speak on my own behalf regarding the charges against me. I was told that 3 coworkers submitted statements against me and that their written statements were legal and that my answer did not matter.
Obviously these charges are going to impact my future. I am concerned about the references I will get from my supervisor when prospective employers call to inquire about me.
Not only do I want my job back, but I would like to clear my record of the false charges. I was told by the EEO counselor that I could not use the 3 reasons stated in my termination letter as a basis for my claims. The reasons stated in my termination letter is only a typical example of the lies that were told about me during my 8 month employment. If I am unable to use examples of harassment, how do I therefore build any case for the discrimination?
I do not trust that my supervisor will be truthful when confronted with the statements she made to me about my being considered “white.” Nor do I think that the one employee. who still walks a precariously thin line of acceptance will have the courage to back up my statements. Does all of this leave me without a legal claim?
Do I have any avenues available to me to counter this termination or to expunge the false charges from my personnel file?
Also I was told this week by an employment agency that if I filed an EEO claim I would have an extremely difficult time finding employment again. I was told that I would be perceived as a troublemaker and no business owner or company would want to take the risk. Is this true? How would a prospective employer have access to this information?
I was a GS-4 federal service employee working for an Indian Health Service agency. I have read that the Civil Rights Act Title VII does not apply to a business or enterprise on an Indian Reservation. However, my termination letter stated that because I was still on probation that the only avenue I had is the EEO. Does this statement about Indian Reservations therefore render the EEO avenue as useless?
If it is available to me, let me ask if I have a claim based on the following two reasons?
(1) Harassment based on discrimination due to skin color and race and/or nationality. I do not distinguish between the latter two.
My position required Indian Preference: I am 1/4 Alaska native. My supervisor told me many times in the first few months of my employment that the opposition and hostility I was facing was due to the fact that my coworkers thought I was white. She told me that among the local tribe the social hierarchy is very strong. Not only was I not of their tribe, but my coloring is very light.
My supervisor told me that she herself had suffered miserable treatment the first few years in the department and that she is not yet “accepted” but barely tolerated even on the surface. She admitted, as a supervisor she had absolutely no power over them, meaning they follow no orders from her.
Another light skinned employee also told me that the hostility she experienced for her first few years was extremely severe. She was finally accepted into the group based on the fact that she was married to a man of the local tribe and has two children with Indian blood.
The harassment I received from my coworkers made my working hours almost unbearable. I was not only subject to their rudeness and ill treatment, and the scapegoat for every mistake made in the department, but was also at the receiving end of many outright and blatant lies.
(2) The second claim that I would make with EEO is reprisal from my supervisor due to a letter I had written that went over her head.
It was from this day forward, that I was also at the receiving end of anything my supervisor could find to be a mistake on my part. After breaking an agency policy, I asked for an employee book that I could read to know what the policies were. I was told both that there is no book and also that if there were, it would be so outdated as to not be of any use to me.
I understand that during a probationary period an employee can be let go for no reason at all. However, instead of doing that, my termination letter stated 3 reasons that were utterly false for grounds to fire me. I was not allowed to speak on my own behalf regarding the charges against me. I was told that 3 coworkers submitted statements against me and that their written statements were legal and that my answer did not matter.
Obviously these charges are going to impact my future. I am concerned about the references I will get from my supervisor when prospective employers call to inquire about me.
Not only do I want my job back, but I would like to clear my record of the false charges. I was told by the EEO counselor that I could not use the 3 reasons stated in my termination letter as a basis for my claims. The reasons stated in my termination letter is only a typical example of the lies that were told about me during my 8 month employment. If I am unable to use examples of harassment, how do I therefore build any case for the discrimination?
I do not trust that my supervisor will be truthful when confronted with the statements she made to me about my being considered “white.” Nor do I think that the one employee. who still walks a precariously thin line of acceptance will have the courage to back up my statements. Does all of this leave me without a legal claim?
Do I have any avenues available to me to counter this termination or to expunge the false charges from my personnel file?
Also I was told this week by an employment agency that if I filed an EEO claim I would have an extremely difficult time finding employment again. I was told that I would be perceived as a troublemaker and no business owner or company would want to take the risk. Is this true? How would a prospective employer have access to this information?
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