The U.S. Justice Department is suing the state on behalf of a former Hawaii Department of Transportation Airports Division employee, alleging that state officials fired her after she filed several complaints of job-related sexual harassment and pressed unsuccessfully for those officials to take proper action.
The discrimination suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Hawaii and announced by federal authorities Monday.
It alleges that Sherry Valmoja, a former bomb-sniffing dog handler who first worked for a DOT-contracted private firm, Akal Security, and then later worked directly for the state, endured repeated unwelcomed conduct and comments from a co-worker, Mark Morris, going back to 2009.
Valmoja filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and later filed for a temporary restraining order against Morris in state court that resulted in a deal where the two would have virtually no contact, according to the suit.
Despite Valmoja’s "timely" complaints, DOT failed to take "reasonable steps to remedy the harassment," according to the Justice Department. DOT officials further organized a schedule where the two employees would regularly encounter each other at the airport despite knowing of Valmoja’s harassment and retaliation claims, according to the suit.
It further states that Morris was fired in 2011 after several reported violations of the deal reached from Valmoja’s filing of the temporary restraining order.
Morris declined Monday to comment on the suit’s allegations.
The suit alleges that DOT officials, including DOT Airports Business Services supervisor Chris Murphy, then retaliated against Valmoja for her ongoing EEOC complaints against the department by taking her assigned dog from her custody while she recovered from an airport car accident, as well as subjecting her to other "disparate treatment."
Valmoja was fired in May 2012, a move described in the suit as "retaliatory termination."
A DOT representative said Monday that the department would not respond to pending litigation.
The suit seeks to have DOT take proper steps to investigate claims of a hostile work environment based on sexual harassment and retaliation, among other measures. It also seeks unspecified back pay, damages and "all other appropriate equitable relief" for Valmoja.
