Reverse Discrimination

The outline of the case was the same as hundreds of others that are processed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: worker says boss gives preferential treatment to fellow worker, charges job discrimination based on sex and race. The details, however, were unusual. First, the complaining worker was a white male, the boss a white female and the fellow worker a black female. Second, the employer named in the complaint was the EEOC itself.

Allen Sachsel, a commission attorney, claimed that his supervisor, Evangeline Swift, treated a black female lawyer as second-in-command even though he had seniority in the same civil service grade. Swift swiftly fired him. When Sachsel took the case to court, the EEOC accused him of, among other things, causing a morale problem. Last week a spirit of equal opportunity prevailed and both sides dropped charges. Who won? Well, Sachsel is moving on to another job where, coincidentally of course, his boss is a white male. Though the court ruled that he is owed the 40 hours' leave he used to prepare his case, there was no clear victory for either side. As they say at EEOC, chalk up another blow for brotherhood.

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