An area man has filed suit against the United States Postal Service (USPS) for “favoring African-Americans over Caucasians for promotions,” according to a complaint filed this month with the U.S. District Court. Roger Walker, a presumably white Buckingham County resident who works for the USPS as a maintenance technician at their Processing and Distribution Center on Airport Road, alleges that “racial favoritism” kept him from either getting trained for, or promoted to, a supervisory position in October 2003. Walker also contends that management has retaliated against him for pursuing the matter by not considering him for other positions or giving him further training.
“It’s news to me,” says Dawn Jenkins, the facility plant manager whom Walker alleges denied him the promotion. “I’m not familiar with [the suit]. We have a process in place for grievances.” Jenkins says that of the five maintenance department managers, four are white and only one is black.
Walker did not return calls by press time. His attorney, Robert Dwoskin, had no comment.
Though the suit has been filed, it has not yet been served. In fact, the suit was originally filed last August, but was dismissed after 120 days because it was never served. On June 8, Dwoskin re-filed the suit, which asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as court costs.
As the suit has not been served, Postal Service spokesmen Dave Partenheimer could not comment on the case. Lois Miller, Richmond district communications coordinator, said that all employees have a right to go through either the USPS grievance process or the Equal Employment Opportunities process. Walker’s complaint states that he filed a complaint through the Postal Service’s compliance office.