The Washington Post
November 18, 1993, Thursday, Final Edition
Fired Police Officer Who Alleged Bias, 2nd Worker Win Back
Jobs in Fairfax
BYLINE: Patricia Davis, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A38
LENGTH: 402 words
Two fired Fairfax County police employees were ordered
reinstated yesterday, one of them a black female officer who has accused the
department of repeated race and sex discrimination.
The Fairfax County Civil Service Commission ordered back pay
for Officer Sheila Patterson, who was fired in July for allegedly throwing a
telephone message pad at a colleague. She also was charged with insubordination
for her conduct during an internal investigation of the incident and for
refusing to sign a release form after a psychological fitness-for-duty exam.
In its ruling, the commission said the county's evidence was
insufficient to sustain either charge. Because it ruled in Patterson's favor,
the commission made no finding on her allegation that she was dismissed because
of her race and sex.
In a separate ruling, the panel sustained some of the
department's charges against Joyce M. Williams, former director of the
department's Victim/Witness Assistance Program, including that she used a
county vehicle for personal business, submitted a time sheet that did not
reflect leave taken and made false statements.
But the commission said Williams's dismissal was not appropriate
and reduced the penalty to a 30-day suspension. It said it found no evidence of
discrimination, although Williams, who is black, contended that she was
dismissed because of disciplinary actions she took against a white subordinate.
Fairfax Police Chief Michael W. Young said in a statement
yesterday that the department is reviewing the ruling in Patterson's case to
determine "whether there are any remaining legal issues which must be
evaluated."
In Williams's case, Young's statement said, "the facts
before the commission were serious, and they were compelling and clear evidence
of wrongdoing." Among other things, the department alleged that Williams
obtained money by false pretense through an insurance transaction.
The civil service commission ruling was the latest victory
for Patterson, who was on the Fairfax force about 10 years. The U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission has twice issued findings that the police
department retaliated against her for filing race and sex discrimination complaints.
She has a federal lawsuit pending against the department.
"We're ecstatic about it," Patterson's attorney,
Edwin C. Brown Jr., said of the latest ruling. "It offers at least an
interim vindication."