The Washington Post
September 17, 1993, Friday, Final Edition
Fairfax Firing Of Officer Found Unfair;
Woman Should Be Rehired, EEOC Says
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued
a finding that the Fairfax County Police Department fired a black female police
officer in retaliation for filing race and sex discrimination complaints
against the department. The commission said the department should reinstate
Sheila Patterson with back pay, stop retaliating against employees and provide
training to all supervisors regarding discrimination and retaliation.EEOC
Director Susan Buckingham Reilly, who wrote the commission's "letter of
determination," dated Tuesday, said no finding was made on Patterson's
allegations of race and sex discrimination.
Fairfax Police Chief Michael Young said yesterday that the
police department will await a decision by the U.S. District Court in
Alexandria on a pending discrimination lawsuit filed by Patterson. "She
has placed the matter before the federal court for litigation," Young
said."We expect the facts to be fully aired. At that point, we will accept
the final outcome."Patterson's attorney, Edwin C. Brown Jr., said he was
delighted with the EEOC findings but did not expect a favorable response from
the police department.The Justice Department has the option of filing suit
against the police department, he said.It was the second time in a year that
the EEOC has said the Fairfax police retaliated against Patterson.In the
earlier opinion, the EEOC said the department retaliated by ordering her to see
a psychiatrist and disciplining her unfairly for an alleged firearm
violation."Twice the EEOC has ruled that the department retaliated against
me," Patterson, 39, said yesterday. "That shows blatantly that there
is something going wrong on that police department and nothing is being done
about it."The Justice Department sued the police department a decade ago,
alleging rampant discrimination. The county agreed to file semiannual reports
on hiring and promotion practices.Last year, 10 female officers complained to
the EEOC that women were being overlooked for promotions.In the most recent
EEOC complaint, Patterson, a 10-year veteran of the force, had alleged that she
was "harassed, disciplined and discharged" in July because of her
race and sex and in retaliation for filing previous EEOC complaints.Patterson
said she was charged with assault and later fired for allegedly throwing a
message pad at another officer.She said the charge was "a complete
fabrication" and was lodged in retaliation for filing the lawsuit in
federal court.Police officials are "going to be held accountable for all
the lies and trumped-up charges that I had to endure over all these
years," Patterson said.