ST. LOUIS – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri has granted U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie's motion to dismiss a suit filed by a federal employee who alleged he faced discrimination based on his race, gender and disability.
The court concluded that plaintiff Darryl Lee Henderson offered no evidence to substantiate a claim of hostile work environment and offered "only speculation that defendant's failure to act was on account of his disability" or Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) activity.
"Based on the foregoing analysis, the record clearly establishes that there are no genuine disputes as to any material facts," the court ruling states.
The decision was rendered by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Bodenhausen.
According to the March 5 court memorandum and order in Darryl Lee Henderson v. Robert L. Wilkie, Secretary Department of Veterans Affairs, the plaintiff, an African-American male who has diabetes, began working for the Veterans Administration in 2009. He was then transferred to the St. Louis VAMC in 2013.
Henderson alleged he was subjected to discrimination, including not being allowed to take regular lunch breaks without informing three different individuals, being wrongfully accused of sexual harassment, a poor performance rating and failed promotions in retaliation and that he was not allowed proper representation during his Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) administrative process.
The plaintiff filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in January 2013 with the EEOC as well as his EEO filings, however the EEOC dismissed part of his claim. He then requested an EEOC Administrative Judge (AJ) hearing with the AJ finding plaintiff "failed to establish discrimination based on disability or retaliation," however the plaintiff had the right to file a civil lawsuit within 90 days, the ruling states.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and Henderson's supervisors argued they were not aware of his diabetes diagnosis and that his poor ratings were due to errors in his work, not getting along with peers and instances of tardiness.