C4C dedicates this edition of C4C Federal Exchange to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – An Iconic Civil Rights Activist, A Man of Service. The January 2015 edition of the Exchange features Mr. Felton Batiste of ASKFMB; civil rights activists Ms. Janet Howard and Ms. Joyce E. Megginson and an article by Mr. Douglas Kinan on Fergusons In America.

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. . . .
The Official Personnel File (OPF) is a single
personnel folder that documents all Federal
civilian service for a particular individual. A
notification of personnel action (SF-50) is put
into the OPF for all appointments and
separations (as well as many other personnel
actions). OPFs are a system of records subject
to both the Privacy Act and the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). Agencies are
authorized to respond to information requests
from the public on all Official Personnel
Folders.
A QUOTE FROM . . .
A QUOTE FROM. . .
C4C Pledge: Moving Forward - Addressing
Race Discrimination and Retaliation in 2015
Tanya Ward Jordan, Founder –C4C
During the month of January, we celebrate
Dr. Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day, an
American holiday honoring one of the most
influential and iconic civil rights leaders. MLK day
is celebrated each year on the third Monday of
January, near Dr. King’s birthday of January 15th.
At this time in history, the Coalition For Change,
Inc. (C4C) members renew their commitment to
address “race” discrimination and “retaliation” in
the federal sector.
Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
made it unlawful to discriminate based on race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin, the U.S.
federal government continues to engage in
discriminatory treatment. The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission continues to report, via
the Annual Report on the Federal Workforce, that
race “Black” is the most common bases reported
when filing employment complaints. During 2015,
the C4C will continue to support its members with
information and fellowship support; move forward
with members of the Committee on Government
THE C4C FEDERAL EXCHANGE
THE COALITION FOR CHANGE, INC. (C4C)
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
ISSN 2375-706 X Volume 02 /No.1, January 2015
DEDICATION:
C4C dedicates this edition of C4C
Federal Exchange to Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. – An Iconic Civil Rights
Activist, A Man of Service
Play Musical VIDEO --
http://youtu.be/uD4NLtvwTU0
HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE:
RATE YOUR BOSS 2
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Felton
Batiste, Jr. 3
IN THE NEWS: Janet Howard
and Joyce Megginson Strike A
Successful Blow For Feds 3
“Fergusons” In America –
Douglas Kinan 5
HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE:
“ALLEGED” DISCRIMINATING
OFFICIALS 2
VIDEO: CONGRESS EXAMINES THE
TREATMENT OF WHISTLEBLOWERS 3
FORMER CENSUS EMPLOYEE FILES
$6.53 MILLION DOLLAR TORTS CLAIM 4
NINE (9) REASONS WHY
AGENCIES DISMISS COMPLAINTS 6
VIDEO: C4C MEMBERS ADDRESS
HOSTILE WORKPLACE CULTURE 7
“A lie cannot live.”
Dr. Martin Luther King

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and Oversight Reform to promote accountability
measures for unlawful violations; and actively
monitor the seven (7) federal entities, listed
below, compliance with civil rights laws.
These entities, according to data provided by
the Bureau of the Census, have the largest
federal civilian employment population.
Federal Entity Workforce
(2010)
Blacks % of
Workforce (2010)
Defense 772,601 *
Veterans
Affairs
304,665 23.8%
Homeland
Security
183,455 14.3%
Justice 117,916 16.9%
Treasury 110,099 24.2%
Agriculture 106,867 11%
Interior 70,231 5.6%
Workforce data source: Click Census Link HERE
Blacks % of permanent workforce source: OPM
click HERE
* Army --17% / Air Force 11.8%
Rate Your Boss!
“Founded in 2007, eBossWatch is a leading
career resource that enables job seekers and
employees to share information about
prospective and current employers.
ebossWatch enables people to anonymously
review and rate their bosses and employers so
that job seekers can search potential
workplaces and can access inside information
about what it's really like to work here.”
http://www.ebosswatch.com/Rate-my-boss-
review
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
Jan is the leading source of free, expert, and
confidential guidance on workplace
accommodations and disability employment
issues. http://askjan.org/
CASE HIGHLIGHTS
University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center v. Nassar
No. 12–484 (June 24, 2013)
The ruling in Nassar means that employees
will now need to show that a retaliatory motive
was “the principal” or but-for cause of an
adverse employment decision to recover. That
is a more difficult standard of proof and may
result in fewer retaliation claims making it
before juries and fewer favorable jury verdicts.
Read more by clicking HERE.
Rhoads v Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
98-2374 (Decided: July 12, 2001)
Background: Lori D. Rhoads appealed a
judgment rendered against her on her claims
under the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA); the Americans with Disabilities Act,
(ADA); and Maryland state law. The district
court granted summary judgment to the FDIC,
as Rhoads's former employers, on her ADA
claims -- for failure to make reasonable
accommodations, discriminatory termination,
and retaliation as well as the state law claims. A
jury later found in the FDIC's favor on the
FMLA claim and, and the court denied
Rhoads's motion for judgment as a matter of
law or, alternatively, for a new trial. The Court
of Appeals For the Fourth Circuit affirmed the
district court in every respect except for its
award of summary judgment on the ADA
retaliation claim, which it vacated and
remanded for further proceedings. On remand,
Rhoads was awarded $120,006 in back pay
from the jury. Rhoads v. FDIC, 257 F.3d 373
(4th Cir. 2001). Read more by clicking HERE.

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.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Felton Batiste, Jr.
Felton Batiste, Jr., who served in the U.S.
Marine Corps, continues to give a voice to
those who seek to speak out against injustice
both inside and outside of the workplace. As
founder and designer of ASKFMB.com, Mr.
Baptiste provides “information” on any and all
subjects. Via ASKFMB Mr. Baptiste uses his
skills and knowledge to help others by
providing an on-line vehicle to share insightful
topics. Interested in getting your voice heard?
Visit link at
http://askfmb.com/contactform.html
Quote: Conscious Peace
Is More Valuable Than A Job
Felton Batiste on Activism—“I describe my
actions in support of others as “serving
others.” It’s amazing what one could feel when
releasing the internal conscious burden of a
harm that has taken place somewhere in their
lives and this release can be realized by simply
writing down thoughts and seeing these
thoughts somewhere for all to see. I simply
provide that forum; design the physical
presentation, thereby facilitating the experience
of individual and personal release of a
conscious burden.”
Update: Last American Plantation
The Last American Plantation is a short
documentary film by Arts, Trade & Lifestyle
Media Group, Inc. about the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) and it's
widely known discriminatory practices towards
minority farmers and employees. Producer,
Miles J. Edwards, has informed C4C that he is
still working on trying to obtain funding for the
documentary and has revamped his web
magazine to attract advertisers to help with
funding.
See trailer at http://vimeo.com/81299949
IN THE NEWS
Janet Howard and Joyce Megginson Strike a
Successful Blow for Federal Employees!
Joyce E. Megginson (L.) and Janet Howard (R.)
Howard, Megginson v Pritzker-Department
of Commerce
Decided January 6, 2015
No. 12-5370

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Civil rights activists and former Class agents in
a class action against the U.S. Department of
Commerce, Janet Howard and Joyce E.
Megginson, appealed the dismissal of their
complaint on the grounds that the district court
erred in failing to adhere to the time limits in
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42
U.S.C. 2000e et seq. Earlier this month the
Court of Appeals held that the six-year statute
of limitations for suits against the United
States, 28 U.S.C. 2401(a), does not apply to
claims filed pursuant to Title VII as amended to
apply to federal employees.
Because the district court (Judge John D.
Bates) erred in applying section 2401(a)'s six-
year statute of limitations to appellants' Title
VII claims, the Court of Appeals reversed and
remanded Howard’s and Megginson’s
complaint to the district court for
consideration.
READ MORE –Click HERE
MUST READ
Professional Misconduct: DOJ Could
Strengthen Procedures for Disciplining Its
Attorneys GAO-15-156: Published: Dec 11,
2014. Publicly Released: Dec 11, 2014.
Instances of professional misconduct—such as
a violation of an attorney’s responsibilities to
be honest—among DOJ attorneys have called
into question DOJ’s efforts to oversee attorney
behavior, including its processes for
investigating and disciplining misconduct
complaints. READ MORE –Click HERE
ALLEGED DISCRIMINATING
OFFICIALS
Department of Interior
(MSPB CH-3443-14-0264-1-1)
Timothy Patronski
Chuck Traxler
Charlie Wooley
Customs and Border Patrol
Case HS-09-CBP-002184-00100
James Tomscheck
General Services Administration
Case No. 12–5107
Michael Vrobel
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Civil Action No. JFM-13-3190
Gary Simpler
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Agency No. BOP-2010-0869
John Owens
Officials cited in an employment discrimination lawsuit
may or may not have been found guilty of alleged acts;
however, cases reflect an agency’s failure to resolve claims
timely and at the lowest administrative level.

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“Fergusons” in America
by Douglas K. Kinan
Based on my direct knowledge, I conclude
that the cause of racial unrest and the
"Fergusons" in America (and those yet to
come) are due to a few bad apples in the
Department of Justice (DoJ) and law
enforcement in general. Their role in aiding
and abetting pattern and practice
discrimination across America and other
malicious acts and then using their might and
unlimited resources to complete a fraud on the
court, over and over again needs to stop.
In my view, and according to the statistical
context, the police are right 99.9% of the time,
but perhaps not in the Brown and Garner
cases. Even if we give the benefit of the doubt
to some news reports that Brown was a
recidivist "thug," no unarmed 18 year old kid,
black, brown or white, should have six bullets
pumped into him for any reason - none. In
Brown, there were other options. In Garner,
the issuance of a citation was appropriate.
Both Brown and Garner have no business
being dead.
Consider this: Wall Street bankers stole
billions of dollars, destroyed lives and left
many homeless. The penalty? Many of these
same individuals divided additional bonuses in
the millions of dollars. None were arrested.
None went to jail. Eric Garner may have lost
his life via a stealth chokehold for selling loose
cigarettes for pennies.
While the majority of police and prosecutors
are honest and necessary, “bad apples” have no
business being in law enforcement and need to
be removed. Decent law enforcement
members who are forced to endure the taint of
corruption would agree with removing these
few bad apples, if the “code of silence” were
lifted. However, speaking up is career suicide.
Retaliation is swift and severe. Thus, “legal”
law breaking continues because no one is
watching the watch-dogs. Transparency did
not occur in Brown and Garner, which seemed
to set off violent protests across America.
Photo courtesy of Matthew F. Fogg
One example of “what” is not being discussed
would be the biggest promotion fixing scheme
in federal government history designed to
cheat minorities (and females) out of merit
based promotions, yet the Civil Rights Division
of the DoJ and the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) does
nothing to stop it. The shame of it all is that
many better qualified females and minorities
are forced to attain a “merit-based” promotion,
not on their merit, but via Title VII and the
EEOC complaint process. Discriminatory
practices shouldn't be allowed by any "justice"
system or any court of law in America, yet it
happens over and over again. Prosecutorial
misconduct in the form of fabricating evidence,
felony perjury, concealing information,
obstructing justice and other abuses of power
are a perverted form of justice that hurts us all.
Meet The Press moderator, Chuck Todd, asked:
“Are we no better off [regarding racial
matters in America] than we were six years
ago?” Based on my approximate 45 years of
experience with equal employment opportunity
and corporate and public sector racial matters,
panel member, Professor Ogletree was correct
when he said, “It is worse now.”
But who will stop it?
About The Author: Douglas K. Kinan, is a Viet
Nam Era veteran, a former DoD EEO Specialist and
Black Employment Program Manager, former
Human Resources Director, a retired sworn and
commissioned officer of the Massachusetts Trial
Court, a public service Community Advocate and
currently sits on the Board of Directors for the
Boston State Hospital project.

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C4C Federal Exchange Newsletter is
distributed monthly to C4C members and
posted via internet to readers interested in
learning more about the federal workplace
culture. Interested in submitting narrative for
possible publication? E-mail T. Ward Jordan
at c4c@coalition4change.org
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