Attorney General
DOJ Probe Considers Whether Lawyer Was Ousted Due to Sexual Orientation Rumor
Posted Apr 3, 2008, 06:26 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Justice Department probe is considering whether a career lawyer there was ousted from her job because of rumors that she is a lesbian.
Investigators with the Justice Department’s inspector general have raised questions about a decision to dismiss Leslie Hagen, a liaison between DOJ and the U.S. attorneys' committee on Native American issues, National Public Radio reports. The investigators questioned several staffers about the October 2006 decision.
Sources told NPR about a meeting in which senior officials were told Hagen’s contract would not be renewed because someone in the attorney general’s office had a problem with Hagen’s rumored sexual orientation.
Hagen received the highest rating for her work in her final evaluation, an assessment shared by many of her colleagues who “raved about her work” in interviews with NPR. Hagen now works in the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs under another temporary contract. Those who knew her said she was hurt by her ouster and just wants to focus on her work. Hagen did not comment for NPR.
A hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, which posted the story.
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Comments
Posted by Nancy - 3 months, 2 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes ago
Interesting...does she have cause at the federal level??
Posted by Al DeDonis - 3 months, 2 days, 35 minutes ago
It’s a shame. Where she chooses go and do on her own time should be her own business. This is a sex-crazed society. Tsk, Tsk on the government.
Posted by anon - 3 months, 1 day, 23 hours, 48 minutes ago
I wouldn’t blame the government per se. take a close look at the supervisor/manager. I am aware of a situation in which a gov’t employee lost a job because of supervisory bias - the employee was transgendered, but when discovered, the supervisor found another reason to dump the employee - during the Clinton administration.
Posted by F Rivero - 2 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 7 hours, 42 minutes ago
Unfortunately, discrimination based on sexual orientation at the federal level does not have solid protection like, for instance, a human rights act at the state level. Any protections available would likely depend on the individual agency’s policies.