2008 Woodie Awards
SPC faculty leader settles with district
By Amber Whittaker
Last update: 5/17/06 at 8:20 AM CST
- Page 1 of 1
After five years requesting accommodations for a debilitating condition, the Faculty Senate president of St. Philip's College, settled a two-year legal case with the district Feb. 24.
Information technology Professor Dee Joseph sued the district, Dr. Angie Runnels, St. Philip's president; Dr. Lanier Byrd, vice president of academic affairs; Dr. John Carnes, dean of applied science and technology; and Janie Gonzales, former chair of business information solutions, for gender discrimination and discrimination related to her disorder, reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome.
In the settlement, Joseph was reimbursed $6,000 for legal fees and assured the district director of human resources will investigate and make recommendations for the business information solutions department.
Joseph will receive ergonomic equipment recommended by her doctors and have removed from her personnel file a letter from a co-worker as well as a memo of improvement and a reprimand. Joseph will have her self-evaluation and her rebuttal to Gonzales' evaluation added to her file. In addition, she will have 52 hours of leave reinstated.
The settlement also states that Joseph will be aided by the district if she tries to transfer to this college. If Joseph stays at St. Philip's, she must receive certification in three Microsoft programs. Class assignments for regular loads, overloads and summer classes will be determined by Byrd's written protocol without discrimination.
In 2002, Joseph was diagnosed with the rare disorder that often results from traumatic physical upheaval, such as surgery or a car wreck. Usually striking one limb, the disorder causes constant pain for sufferers and can alter skin color. But Joseph's pain is not isolated to one limb. "My arms and legs are pretty worthless," she said.
Unable to walk without a cane, she navigates the halls of St. Philip's in a Go-Go Scooter, and in place of typing, she depends on special voice-activated software to capture her words.
Joseph, who has been with the district 24 years, said she had her workload cut after a 2002 surgery. She continued to teach full-time, but overload classes were no longer offered to her.
The overload hours could add $18,000 a year to her regular salary and with one prescription costing $92 a month, she was counting on it.
She watched as those extra hours were cut and her name was removed from the class schedule and replaced with a "staff" designation.
She describes a hostile environment in which female faculty were closely monitored and harassed. Three women resigned or transferred from her department within a year.
On Thursday, Gonzales said she was kept out of the legal proceedings and could not comment on the case.
"I don't think there's ever been a hostile environment," she said, adding that any accusations of gender inequalities were unfounded. "Everyone got an equal opportunity."
Joseph listed two of the women - Val Calvert, business professor at this college, and Amanda Salinas, administrative computer technology professor at Palo Alto College - as witnesses for her case. Calvert will say only that the department was "micromanaged" and she had to be told when and where to lunch. Salinas would not comment.
Joseph said after she filed suit, it only got worse. She said someone began circulating disparaging messages about her through e-mail.
She said she asked for equipment to be delivered that was never sent and was refused accommodations. Meanwhile, the office equipment she did have was falling apart. A 6-year-old computer she had complained about was replaced the week of the settlement. "I had to buy my own software to install in this old junk computer," Joseph said.
On bad days, she would cry in the restroom. She said she was ignored by administrators and human resources. She said human resources at both St. Philip's and the district treated her poorly. "They made me feel like I was 4 feet tall," she said. "While you file a lawsuit, you are treated like dirt."
Joseph said she doesn't understand why her position as Faculty Senate president doesn't afford her respect at her college. "Nobody's going to want to step forward if they see what happened to me," Joseph said. "Everyone is always so afraid."
She said she doesn't know why her case was held up for so long when her requests were minimal.
"I want my legacy to be that policy will change so this won't happen to other employees, that things will be fair and equitable."
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