Review of EEOC district office ordered
The head of a federal civil rights agency ordered a review of its Dallas district office after a USA TODAY investigation revealed widespread complaints of internal discrimination.
“I plan to ensure that we get to the bottom of any allegations of mistreatment,” Charlotte Burrows, chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said in a statement. “And if there is a problem in any district or office across this agency, we will fix it.”
In a meeting with the Dallas staff Wednesday, supervisors provided few specifics about how the agency would address employees’ concerns. They offered general statements – including a thinly veiled warning about talking to reporters – which left some employees further disillusioned.
The EEOC called the meeting in the wake of last week’s USA TODAY investigation, which included testimony from several employees who said they were discriminated and retaliated against. The agency born out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s is charged with protecting millions across the nation from workplace discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
Wednesday’s meeting – less than 20 minutes of largely prewritten statements
delivered by three managers – did not address any specific complaints or allegations of patterns of abuse, and employees were not given an opportunity to ask questions, according to a recording obtained by USA TODAY.
It was run by the Dallas district director, Belinda McCallister, whom many employees have accused of facilitating harassment and discrimination.
McCallister cautioned employees to direct media inquiries to the national press office.
In a statement after the meeting Wednesday, EEOC spokeswoman Jacinta Ma said the commission does not have a policy barring staff from speaking to the media about their work environment, but they cannot divulge classified information related to cases or how they do their jobs.
After the meeting, employees discussed how disappointed they were in the agency’s handling of the internal strife. One characterized the supervisors’ offer of a “virtual suggestion box,” among other ways to report discrimination, as patronizing. Others said the meeting was “pure garbage” and a “waste of time.”
All spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Black employees described being disciplined for parking in the wrong places or addressing corporate attorneys by their first names. Some investigators said they told leaders at the agency’s headquarters about their own discrimination, but those complaints went nowhere or led to retaliation.
Patonia Rhule – a current EEOC investigator – was reprimanded, then suspended, after writing #BlackLivesMatter in an email to 100-plus coworkers.
Both the Texas and national chapters of the NAACP issued statements condemning how the agency handled internal cases such as Rhule’s, as well as charges filed by workers on the outside who came to the commission for help.