ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
A former employee of Total Action Against Poverty has filed a federal lawsuit against the community action agency alleging that she was harassed and fired after filing a discrimination complaint in 1992.
Gloria Dowe filed the suit Tuesday, asking for back pay, benefits, $1 million for mental distress and another $1 million for punitive damages.
In June, Dowe and another former TAP employee joined the Roanoke NAACP in asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate TAP, claiming that the agency mishandled the pair's job dismissals.
Dowe, a 29-year TAP Head Start employee who is black, filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1992. She alleges that in retaliation for filing the complaint, she was demoted.
Dowe filed a retaliation complaint with the EEOC in January and was fired in April. A TAP grievance committee held a hearing in June and unanimously agreed that the decision to fire Dowe was correct.
But Dowe claimed that the hearing did not follow proper procedure and that perjury was committed during the hearing. She said at a news conference in June that she wants her job back.
Her lawsuit, which she filed without an attorney, also asks a judge to issue a permanent injunction barring the agency from depriving her of the right to equal employment opportunities and from harassing her for her complaint.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB