A 21-page federal complaint filed in May made headlines this week alleging that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (FORBES No. 15 Most Powerful Woman in the World) has been discriminating against male employees of the department in favor of female cronies.
According to the NY Daily News, “blistering federal discrimination suit accuses agency honcho Janet Napolitano of turning the department into a female-run ‘frat house’ where male staffers were banished to the bathrooms and routinely humiliated.”
Most specifically, the suit, filed by James T. Hayes, a special agent of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (A DHS office) in New York City, alleges that under Secretary Napolitano’s direction female staffers were routinely promoted over males. Additionally, female officials under the DHS umbrella are accused of fostering caustic and “sexually offensive” workplaces for men.
Brian P. Hale, the Director of Public Affairs for ICE, the DHS department hardest-hit by these claims, responded to a request for comment, saying: “ICE doesn't comment on unfounded claims and will respond to Mr. Hayes’ allegations as appropriate through the judicial system.”
According to Hayes’ claims, Dora Schriro, who now runs New York City’s Department of Corrections, was named special adviser to Secretary Napolitano on Detention and Removal Operations despite having no “experience in managing a federal law enforcement department.” Hayes formerly served as the director of ICE Detention and Removal Operations in Washington D.C., but says he was demoted following Secretary Napolitano’s appointment to the top DHS post in 2008. Schriro, he says, began her climb in his stead.
One can’t help but to detect a whiff of jealousy in the details surrounding the suit. Schriro, as it turns out, previously led both Missouri and Arizona’s Department of Corrections, which does put her close to Napolitano (the DHS Secretary served as Governor of Arizona between 2003 and 2009 while Schriro was running the DOC) but does sound a lot like law enforcement experience. Further, Hayes' allegations don’t seem to jive with his own career trajectory. He’s held high-ranking assignments prior to- and post-2008, including his current position in New York where he oversees 8,500 government employees and a budget of $2.5 billions.
But Hayes' issues with Napolitano don’t stop with his own hampered career path. He also names Suzanne Barr, the current chief of staff for the ICE, and alleges she knowingly created a hostile environment for her male staffers.
Among the complaints detailed in the suit: in May, 2009, Barr “moved the entire contents of the offices of three employees, including name plates, computers and telephones, to the men’s bathroom at ICE headquarters,” and once called a male employee and screamed at him using “sexually humiliating language" including saying she wanted his "c--k in the back of [her] throat."Hayes also claims Barr once stole a male staffer’s Blackberry and sent emails to a high-ranking woman indicating he “had a crush on [her] and fantasized about her.”
If there’s truth to the allegations, they certainly could be “blistering” for the DHS, and for Napolitano’s credentials as a fair and focused leader of the third largest department in U.S. politics. The temperature in Washington, however, and among staffers under the secretary’s purview seems cool and collected on the issue. With public relations aplomb, they responded quickly to a request for comment and seem assured that Hayes' claims will be proven false in short order.
Still, for a prominent female politician, allegations that her leadership could be tainted by discrimination of any kind are problematic. Napolitano, who I recently spoke with, is keeping her focus forward. This summer she testified before congress on the three biggest threats facing the nation: aviation procedures, cyber security and homegrown violent extremism.
The lawsuit was first reported Wednesday afternoon by Debbie Schlussel, a conservative blogger.
