⚖️ Initial Complaint to OFCCP

As a contract teaching assistant in the Spring 2016 semester, I was the only TA with an evening section (19:00-19:50) and was assigned half the number of students as other TAs. On February 29, I spoke with my Dean, within the divinity school at Duke, and told her I was concerned that I was treated differently because as a veteran I am seen as less than fully qualified (emotionally distressed, physically volatile, etc .). I know of things said at Duke about veterans because I was a president of the campus wide veterans organization for two years as well as the founder of another student veteran organization. Furthermore, as an expectant father, I could not take an evening section the following semester. I asked her to keep my concerns confidential to protect my employment and asked for her guidance. She referred me to the dean of external relations.

The administrator was a former naval officer and we had a long conversation which I asked to be kept "between [he] and I," as it was the same subject as I covered with my dean. At its conclusion, I suggested that the experience of student veterans at Duke should make other veterans like himself "angry." This was a mistake. One week later, he emailed me to tell me he had convened a meeting that excluded student veterans and junior employee veterans. He also brought the university affirmative action plan for veterans to the attention of my hiring manager. In doing so he alerted my hiring manager to the fact that a veteran had been asking questions about employment. I was subsequently not invited back as a TA. I learned that numerous less qualified non-protected persons were offered multiple sections as TAs , making it appear as though I was retaliated against. I was harmed by being denied employment by a prime contractor with the government. No explanation was offered by the employer for their action. There are also ongoing other incidents that have exposed me to increased scrutiny and have created a hostile work environment.

After filing an internal complaint, I was reluctantly hired back, but a senior VP has made my dealings with his office public. It causes me deep mental anguish to continue my employment, but Duke is the largest employer in the county .