The Sex Discrimination Case That Won't Die
by
Joseph C. Maya on Jun. 21, 2017
Employment Employment Discrimination Employment Sexual Harassment
Summary: A blog post about a sex discrimination case out of Washington D.C. that has been pending for 27 years and counting.
Contact the experienced employment law attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. today at (203) 221-3100 or JMaya@Mayalaw.com
A woman sexual discrimination lawsuit, which has been pending for 27 years and counting, “may set a record for the court system in the nation’s capital and is likely among the most protracted in the history of American jurisprudence,” the Washington Post has reported. Deborah Jean Bryant, a former employee of the Washington, D.C. Department of Corrections, claimed that she was denied a promotion because she refused sexual advances from her former supervisor. The case has been heard by nine judges, and a 10th judge will hear it this week.
Bryant alleged in her complaint that her supervisor, John Lattimore, repeatedly asked her out, told her she had “a nice derrière” and remarked in front of another prison worker that “Deborah could have anything she wants if she does the right thing.” She also testified that Lattimore repeatedly told her he was “in love” and said that she “should sit in his lap so that he could play Santa Claus,” according to case records. Two years after Bryant’s complaint was filed, the D.C. Department of Human Rights and Minority Business Development ruled in her favor, and ordered corrections officials to promote her and pay her back wages. The corrections department appealed, which led to legal battle spanning eleven years. Even after the appeal was denied, the war was not over. The parties then proceeded to dispute over Bryant’s entitlement to interest on her back wages for another nine years.
In 2012, a D.C. Court of Appeals panel found that Bryant was entitled to the interest, stating that she had “endured a particularly long and procedurally complicated ordeal.” That ordeal is still not over, however, because Bryant is now disputing the department’s calculations of the interest amount. The department wrote her a check for $100,480, which was $52,000 less than it previously said she was owed in back wages. Corrections officials claimed that they had revisited their records and discovered that their earlier math had been wrong and had included pay for hours Bryant had not worked. Bryant refutes this claim, and for the past five years, she and her attorney have been fighting for the final $52,000 she claims she is still owed, plus interest.
Why has this case dragged on for so long? Bryant’s attorney blames the Washington, D.C. legal system’s poor efficiency, and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley agrees. He stated to the Washington Post, “Each one of these case transfers has built into it months, even years, of delay…A litigant can find themselves ping-ponging between the court and the administrative office.”
The case is pending before a D.C. administrative law judge, with no indication that it is any closer to being resolved than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Robert Adler, Bryant’s attorney, estimates that he has done over $600,000 of work on her case, most of which he will never be paid. Meanwhile, the generations of government lawyers representing the corrections department have refused to give in. “It seems like they’re waiting for one of us to drop dead,” Bryant said.
If you feel you have been mistreated by your employer or in your place of employment and would like to explore your employment law options, contact the experienced employment law attorneys today at 203-221-3100, or by email at JMaya@mayalaw.com. We have the experience and knowledge you need at this critical juncture. We serve clients in both New York and Connecticut including New Canaan, Bridgeport, White Plains, and Darien.
