ST. LOUIS -- An electrician is suing for what she says were sexually suggestive comments at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sherri Sickles filed a federal complaint on August 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District against Denis McDonough, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, for violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - sexual harassment and violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - retaliation.
According to the complaint, Sickles was working as an electrician for the defendant at its St. Louis facility on April 10, 2014. Sickles alleges that at that time, fellow employees and supervisors began to make sexually suggestive comments and sexually derogatory terms towards Sickles based upon her status as a transgendered person.
Sickles alleges that despite her rejections and appeals for civility, the defendant and its agents and employees continued the inappropriate sexual comments and sexually derogatory statements. On May 13, 2020, Defendant became aware of an opening for a WG-10 vacancy but Sickles was denied an interview for position despite the fact that she was told by several senior employees that she scored at the absolute top of all candidates during her Subject Matter Expert (“SME”) screening process, the suit says.
On June 25, 2020, Sickles was notified that she did not receive that WG-10 position.
Sickles is represented by Ryan J. Mahoney.
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division case number 4:21-cv-00963-JAR