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It was over 29 years ago that Matthew Fogg, a retired chief deputy U.S. marshal, first filed a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service, alleging that a toxic environment of racism and discrimination permeated one of the country’s oldest federal law enforcement agencies and undercut career advancement opportunities for its Black employees.
Since then, the suit’s class — estimated to include more than 700 current and former Black deputy marshals and detention enforcement officers, plus thousands of Black applicants who were not hired — had been stuck in a sort of legal limbo, as the case was dismissed, reinstated and expanded over nearly three decades.
That is until Tuesday, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal laws against job discrimination and harassment, granted preliminary approval of a $15 million settlement in one of the longest-running racial discrimination class actions in history.
“It’s a great sense of relief in a case that went on for an unusual length of time,” David Sanford, lead counsel for the class, told The Washington Post. “This was hard-fought over many years, with a lot of litigation, a lot of depositions, a lot of documents, a lot of people, a lot of witnesses — all leading to a legal battle that lasted for decades. But fortunately, it’s over now.”
Marshals Service employees have alleged racism for decades. Their case may finally be heard.
Throughout the litigation process, the U.S. Marshals Service denied wrongdoing. Though an equal-employment expert hired by the plaintiffs found that Black employees were significantly underrepresented in prestigious divisions and for promotions between 2007 and 2012, the agency argued that the analysis was flawed. A Marshals Service spokesman declined to comment on the class action’s allegations and instead referred The Post to a news release announcing that a settlement had been reached.
A final approval of the settlement is expected early next year, Sanford said. The agreement’s terms also stipulate that the Marshals Service will institute measures meant to enhance inclusion and transparency in its recruitment and promotions processes, as well as provide implicit-bias training to its employees — something Sanford said he hoped would achieve greater equity not only within the service, but across the federal government.
“This was another wake-up call for the federal government,” he said. “The federal government should be the shining light and standard by which everyone else operates. This shows that the U.S. government, like so many entities in corporate America, has fallen short. But hopefully as a result of the settlement, things will be better in the future at the Marshals Service and in the rest of the government.”
Yet for some plaintiffs, settling for $15 million in a court case that has spanned five U.S. presidencies — even as some of its plaintiffs have died — seemed like too little, too late.
“It’s a joke,” said Fogg, for whom the class action is named. He said he and other Black former employees believe the number reached is far too low.
Under the settlement, people who have been class agents and given depositions, like Fogg, will get more of the total, he said. But he still thinks the settlement is unfair, particularly because the case dragged on for so long.
“For 30 years, it’s just ridiculous,” he said.
In 1985, a dispute with a White supervisor marked the unraveling of Fogg’s career in the Marshals Service, The Post previously reported. Between 1986 and 1993, he filed three complaints to the E, citing a slew of incidents of alleged racial harassment and retaliation — including denied overtime and promotions. And in 1994, he filed a class-action lawsuit against the agency, alleging systemic discrimination. In the aftermath, he suffered bouts of job-induced stress and panic attacks until he was eventually fired in 1995.
Three years later, a jury awarded $4 million to Fogg after finding that his workplace was not only “racially hostile” to Black deputies, but also didn’t properly investigate Fogg’s discrimination claims, retaliated against him for such complaints and passed him up for at least two promotions, The Post reported in 1998. But even though Fogg emerged victorious from that legal battle, the class-action bearing his name was decades away from being resolved.
EX-DEPUTY WINS BIAS SUIT AGAINST MARSHALS SERVICE
Over the years, thousands were allegedly denied promotions or given the runaround when applying for jobs within the agency. Last year, 15 former and current Black employees recounted their experiences with racial bias to The Post. Some said they had witnessed White marshals calling both Black members of the agency and prisoners the n-word. One recalled being mistaken for a suspect by a White colleague. According to the employees, a racially biased “good old boy network” perpetuated a culture in which Black people were passed up for opportunities or their career progression was significantly harder than it was for their White colleagues.
“There was a time where the overt racism was the predominant source of racism — you know, the nooses on people’s desks and that type of thing,” one employee told The Post last year. “I think I’m kind of more in the era of institutionalized racism, where it’s built into the processes. People are nice to you in your face. When you peel all the layers back, the core of it’s still there and it’s still perpetuating.”
After dragging on for years, Sanford said the case reached a tipping point following renewed media attention and “people in the Biden administration wanting to do something that was meaningful to resolve this long-standing dispute.”
“The agency was very reluctant to part with any money for decades — they had no money on the table for years,” he added. “It was only relatively recently that we actually had meaningful and engaging conversations.”
“Very difficult” negotiations soon followed, Sanford said. According to Fogg, the law firm initially sought an $80 million settlement, which he pointed out was significantly lower than similar discrimination cases where agencies had agreed to pay upward of $500 million.
“Would we have loved to have gotten more money? Absolutely,” Sanford said. “But these are negotiations, and in negotiations, you give up certain things and you get certain things. The Marshal Service came to the table, engaged in good-faith negotiations. It wasn’t everything we wanted, and I’m sure they gave more than they wanted.”
More importantly, he added, the settlement could result in greater equity at the Marshals Service. The changes in policy within the agency will be assessed through an independent monitor who will be tasked with filing reports within 180 days each — that is, if a potential government shutdown doesn’t derail the timelines.
“There’s always something,” Sanford said. “We’re 29 years into this case and, sure enough, we have the specter of a government shutdown, which could throw a wrench in the timing of all this. The deadlines for this would be suspended in that event, but hopefully there isn’t a shutdown because these current and former deputies have already waited so long for justice.”
Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/09/28/marshals-service-discrimination-lawsuit-settlement/