Sheriff hit with lawsuit over hiring

Applicant claims race, gender led to denial

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006

‘‘It looks very obvious that the sheriff’s office is desperately reaching for straws,” said Pernevlyn Coggins in a letter to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission dated March 12, 2003. ‘‘They have no solid evidence or reason for not hiring me other than blatant racial and gender discrimination.”

According to Coggins’ complaint, she is suing over ‘‘two separate counts of discrimination, based on race and sex, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

The charges stem from an incident that began in November 2002 when the Charles County Sheriff’s Office advertised for a position of systems administrator. According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, the sheriff’s office hired a 19-year-old Caucasian male for the position instead of Coggins, who was 41 at the time and said that she was more qualified.

Coggins, an African-American, submitted an application for the position after learning of the vacancy from Eric Halvorsen, manager of management and information systems at the sheriff’s office and a member of her church, according to Coggins’ complaint.

After interviewing for the job with several other candidates, Coggins said she was notified by the sheriff’s office that she was one of two remaining candidates for the position, and the sheriff’s office required a background investigation to continue the hiring process.

Halvorsen told Coggins at church that ‘‘she had impressed the hiring panel,” and his wife said she ‘‘was everyone’s number one choice,” according to Coggins’ complaint.

Coggins completed the personal history statement and submitted it in person on Dec. 27, 2002, according to court documents.

During this interaction, the sheriff’s office human resources coordinator said that Coggins complained about the salary offered for the position and the amount of paperwork she was required to fill out, according to court documents. Coggins was described as ‘‘agitated and aggravated.” The alleged incident was documented in Coggins’ file and forwarded to Sgt. Robert Cleaveland to begin a background investigation.

The court documents describe several other confrontational interactions between Coggins and members of the sheriff’s office, which Coggins denied.

Background investigator Robert Denyer was assigned to Coggins’ file and said she was ‘‘combative and uncooperative” in their initial interview.

‘‘Denyer rated Coggins’ previous employment history as poor” after speaking with her former employers, according to the court documents.

Upon reviewing Denyer’s report, Cleaveland expressed concern that there was no validation of Coggins’ training and experience with UNIX, a widely used computer operating system, which was required for the position.

That information was passed on to Assistant Sheriff Maj. Michael O’Toole, along with the investigator’s opinion that Coggins should not be hired.

Based on these recommendations, the documents state that O’Toole recommended another candidate to Davis, who gave the ‘‘green light” to hire the other candidate.

On April 15, 2003, Coggins filed paperwork with the EEOC, asserting the sheriff’s office discriminated against her by not selecting her for the position on the basis of her race and sex, according to Coggins’ complaint.

‘‘The Charles County Sheriff’s Office did not ask for a copy of my UNIX training certificate,” she said in a written statement to the EEOC. ‘‘The sheriff’s office did not inform me of the difficulties they had in finding out from my former employer if I had actually worked with UNIX. None of these things are hard to comply with ... had they informed me of any of them.”

According to a Coggins’ opposition to summary judgment, several of her former employers deny statements attributed to them in her background investigation.

The report further alleges that the investigator fabricated and falsified several accounts of interactions he had with Coggins’ references.

‘‘These are not ‘innocent errors or inconsistencies,’ as the defendant maintains,” the report reads. ‘‘But instead powerful evidence of pretext and a ruse for intentional discrimination. Denyer went out of his way to disparage Ms. Coggins’ character and conduct.”

Gary May, lead counsel for the sheriff’s office, countered in an interview Tuesday that, ‘‘Nothing was manufactured or fabricated in this case.”

Coggins’ attorney, Jonathan Puth, said his client has a strong case.

‘‘She had over a decade of experience, and she was viewed as the top candidate for the job,” he said. ‘‘The sheriff’s office hired a Caucasian male, who was 19 and his only experience was as an intern.”

Coggins said Monday the only thing she wants to get out of the lawsuit is a sense of fairness at the sheriff’s office.

‘‘I just want to be treated like everyone else,” she said.

May said he believes this is the first discrimination lawsuit ever filed against the sheriff’s office.

The U.S. District Court in May denied the sheriff’s office’s motion for summary judgment.

‘‘We intend to go forward with the trial, and we think we will be successful,” May said.

A trial has been set for Dec. 5 in district court in Greenbelt.

E-mail Michael Kantor at mkantor@somdnews.com.