Ex-sailor sues Navy over discharge after harassment complaint
Her request for upgrade to honorable status denied
A former sailor is suing the Navy over her other-than-honorable discharge, which, she alleges, she received after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a superior.
Katrina Bradley of West Haven, with the help of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, filed a federal lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut seeking review of the Navy’s refusal to upgrade her discharge status to honorable. The complaint specifically names acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley as a defendant.
A spokesman for the Navy said it’s against policy to comment on ongoing litigation and referred any requests for comment to the Department of Justice.
Bradley enlisted in the Navy in May 1994 at age 18, one month before graduating high school. After completing basic training in February 1995, she was assigned to Patrol Squadron Ten at Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine, where she worked as a hazmat materials clerk.
There, Bradley, an African American, sought out a mentor whom she could look up to and whom she could go to for guidance, according to the lawsuit. She was “excited” to meet Ensign Anthony Williams, an African-American officer in her chain of command, “because he was one of few African Americans on base,” the lawsuit says. “She trusted that he would look out for her.”
The lawsuit alleges that about two months after Bradley arrived on base in 1995, Williams invited her to his barracks one night, “a serious offense for an officer because of the power differential between him and his subordinates,” guided her to his room, gave her a beer, and touched and rubbed her leg.
When Williams went to use the
bathroom, Bradley got ready to leave, “but not before he emerged and pressured her to stay while touching her face,” the lawsuit says. Afterward, Williams would say things to her like “What happened?” and “You should come to the barracks again,” according to the lawsuit.
“Bradley was afraid and humiliated, and as a closeted gay woman she felt especially vulnerable,” the lawsuit says.
In the summer of 1995, Bradley filed a sexual harassment complaint against Williams. No one from the Navy followed up with Bradley about the complaint, the lawsuit alleges, despite an instruction in place from the secretary of the Navy that all reported incidents of sexual harassment would be investigated.
At the time, sexual harassment was prevalent in the Navy. A Department of Defense survey of 90,000 active duty service members conducted from February 1995 to September 1995 found that 53 percent of female service members in the Navy had experienced unwanted or uninvited sexual attention. That same survey found that out of the women who reported sexual harassment, 39 percent indicated that no investigative or disciplinary action followed.
Bradley did not want to be interviewed about her lawsuit but said in a statement provided by the Yale clinic that “When I dredge up those memories, it hurts me to my soul. I served my country faithfully and to the best of my ability, but the Navy did not keep faith with me.”
The lawsuit alleges that after she filed the sexual harassment complaint, Bradley’s supervisors retaliated against her, waiting until the last minute to tell her when she was working or not posting her work schedule in advance.
She subsequently received non-judicial punishment for leaving her place of duty and watching a movie in the duty office, for being late to captain’s call that same day, and for falling asleep while on duty two days later. Her command charged her with four violations of Article 86, absence without leave, and Article 92, failure to follow orders or regulations and violation of orders/regulations, of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
In response to the aforementioned infractions and an unpaid phone bill, Bradley went to captain’s mast, a non-judicial punishment. Her rate was reduced and her recommendation for promotion was withdrawn, according to the lawsuit. Following the captain’s mast, Bradley’s command gave her administrative counseling, and issued a 90day restriction on base and confined her to her barracks, the lawsuit states.
In late November 1995, the Navy recommended her for administrative discharge. Williams, who Bradley alleged sexually harassed her, was involved in the decision to discharge her, serving as a witness on documents related to her separation, the lawsuit says.
About 20 years after being discharged from the Navy, Bradley sought to upgrade her discharge status with the Board for Correction of Naval Records.
In denying her request, the board concluded that the evidence submitted was “insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice.”
The board said it did not find that race or sexual orientation were motivating factors in Bradley receiving an other-than-honorable discharge, and that the severity of her misconduct outweighed her desire to upgrade her discharge. The board also pointed out in its decision that Bradley waived her procedural rights when informed that there was pending administrative separation action against her.
Bradley’s lawsuit alleges that the board’s decision violates the Military Whistleblower Protection Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
The board “summarily rejected” Bradley’s application, “emphasizing her minor disciplinary violations but ignoring the retaliation that led to her discharge after she filed a sexual harassment complaint,” said Alyssa Peterson, a law student intern with the Yale clinic.