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DC Circuit: Federal Employee Need Not Relitigate Religious Discrimination Victory To Appeal Retaliation Holding

By Howard M. Friedman

In Payne v. Salazar, (DC Cir., Sept. 7, 2010), the D.C. Circuit gave a substantial victory to federal employees asserting Title VII employment discrimination claims.  In the case, Department of Interior employee Cassandra Payne won her religious discrimination clam at the administrative level.  An EEOC administrative judge found that the Interior Department had violated Title VII by refusing Payne's requests for weekends off so she could attend church and Bible study.  However the administrative judge rejected her claim that her supervisor had retaliated against her for filing the EEO claim.  Payne appealed the retaliation ruling by filing suit in federal district court. However the district court accepted the government's contention that in order to sue on the retaliation claim, Payne must also relitigate the religious discrimination claim on which she had been successful at the administrative level. The Court of Appeals reversed, rejecting the government's interpretation of the statutory language. It held that a federal employee does not have to re-prove in court a claim on which she has already been successful in order to sue on other Title VII claims which were rejected at the agency level. [Thanks to FedSmith for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 06, 2010 (boomark / email).