Female Prison Workers Denied Opportunities Given to Men: Feds

The Michigan Department of Corrections has engaged in a pattern of gender-based discrimination against female corrections since 2009 at its only prison for women, the Justice Department said in a civil rights lawsuit filed Monday federal court.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges that female corrections officers at the Huron valley Correctional Facility at Ypsilanti were required to work mandatory overtime that is excessive and harmful to their health, while at the same time denying transfer requests that were approved for their male counterparts.

The lawsuit alleges violation Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion.  

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“Employers may not unduly lock workers into or out of a job because of their sex,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a news release. “Qualified male and female correctional officers deserve equal opportunities to compete for job assignments and transfers without unnecessary barriers.”

According the complaint, an “overly broad” policy in place since 2009 allowed female officers to compete for only certain jobs was “unlawful and discriminatory.” 

Together with the allegation that female workers’ transfer requests have routinely been denied, the policies “required female employees at Huron Valley to work excessive overtime hours at a cost to their health.”

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the defendants to stop discriminatory job assignment and transfer policies at Huron Valley and to order MDOC to develop and implement lawful and effective measures to prevent further discrimination.

The lawsuit also asks for monetary damages as compensation for those female correctional officers who were harmed by the alleged discrimination.

“The Michigan Department of Corrections’ policy unnecessarily limits job opportunities for its female employees at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility,” U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said in the news release. “We are not challenging positions where it makes sense to assign only female officers, but only those positions that could reasonably be filled by men or women.  

“By limiting positions that are not justifiably related to inmate privacy to women officers, MDOC created staffing limitations that harm female employees by forcing them to work overtime and preventing them from transferring to other facilities that are closer to their homes, offer more favorable conditions or provide promotional opportunities,” McQuade said.

The lawsuit stems from an equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint filed by 28 female corrections officers investigated by the EEOC’s Detroit Field Office, in the Indianapolis District.

The investigation ‘found reasonable cause to believe that MDOC discriminated against these female correctional officers and other female correctional officers employed at Huron Valley on the basis of sex.”

The EEOC tried unsuccessfully to resolve the situation before referring the charges to the Justice Department, according to the release.

“Making decisions on job assignments and transfers based on a person’s sex violates federal law and is completely unacceptable,” Gail Cober, director of the EEOC’s Detroit Field Office, said in the release. 

Image credit: Michigan Department of Corrections