Federal Air Marshals Under EEO Scrutiny
Both the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) were established to protect the rights of federal workers and to protect the integrity of working conditions and practices for those working for the federal government. The EEOC, established in 1965, is an independent federal law enforcement agency whose primary task is to ensure that there is no discrimination in the workplace and it has the power to bring suit on behalf of employees against federal agencies found to be in violation of discrimination policies. The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), has many complaints pending against the agency that could very well cause them problems with the EEOC and MSPB.
The case brought before the Office of Inspector General involved alleged widespread discrimination and retaliation at the Orlando field office of the Federal Air Marshals Service, where complaints were filed against the office regarding cronyism, age discrimination, gender and racial discrimination, as well as unfair practices regarding promotions, assignments, and discipline. The OIG found that there were indeed instances where certain employees engaged in these illegal practices.
In the wake of the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001 the Federal Air Marshal Service has grown in both number of personal and in its role in keeping air travel safe. During this time, numerous allegations have been leveled at the FAMS regarding hiring practices and retaliation by the department against those employees who have spoken up about what they felt were abuses within the workplace regarding promotions and other issues falling under the oversight of the EEOC and the MSPB.
From 2006 through 2010, FAMS employees filed 280 informal EEO complaints and 174 formal complaints from 2006 through April 2011. For the cases involving allegations of discrimination, many cases were either settled by FAM or resulted in a positive verdict for the Federal Employee.
The problems that have followed the FAMS, putting them under the watchful eye of the EEOC and the MSPB, may very well have started in their field office in Orlando, which by far received the most publicity and scrutiny because of the severity of the incidents. Training officers in this office constructed their own version of a Jeopardy board with a variety of derogatory titles and slurs used for categories that were applied to the trainees and others in the field office. The training officers were said to have used this game to make fun of and to demean certain FAS employees in their charge. However, while this most public case of discrimination became something of an embarrassment to the FAMS, other aspects of working conditions in the agency continue to dog them.
FAMS employees still cite instances of not being promoting based on the merit of their performance while others have alleged retaliation from the agency for speaking up against the FAMS. Many other FAMS employees still allege employment abuses and the cases pending before the courts and the EEOC and MSPB could still be a problem for the FAMS.
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