Opinion ID: 380925
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Employment History

Text: 3 President entered the State Department's foreign service reserve at level FSR-6 in 1960, and was hired as a foreign service staff officer, FSS-4, in 1963. 3 In 1968 he left the foreign service and was appointed to a GS-11 position as a contract specialist in the Department. 4 He became a career officer in 1971 and in 1974 the first black officer ever assigned to the Office of International Arts Affairs (CU/ARTS) of the Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (CU). 5 It was there that his troubles began. 4 Whatever the causes, President's relationships with his co-workers were stormy from the start. He frequently felt that he was being asked to perform tasks below the level of his civil service grade; 6 co-workers, on the other hand, complained that he was exceeding his authority and trying to throw his weight around. 7 In no small part the problems stemmed from disagreement over the exact nature of his position and duties. When President joined CU/ARTS as a GS-12 contract specialist, a GS-14 administrative officer was in the process of retiring. 8 Guy E. Coriden, the director, decided to divide the retiring officer's duties between President and Bart N. Stephens, the deputy director and President's immediate superior, who had been with the Bureau just two weeks longer than had President. 9 Stephens was assigned only those duties having to do with budget preparation and others necessary for him to learn his new position; 10 President was to carry out (t)he bulk of the fiscal, admin(istrative) and transportation work. 11 Having made this allocation, Coriden departed for seven months, leaving Stephens in charge of the office. 12 5 During Coriden's absence disputes, seemingly petty, began to arise between President and some of his co-employees. These squabbles ranged from President's own claim that he was being assigned menial tasks 13 to contentions of other employees that he was interfering with their ability to do their jobs. 14 When Coriden returned, he discovered that the retired officer, some of whose functions supposedly had become President's, was still coming to the office two days a week. 15 This, according to Stephens, was necessary because President was unable to discharge adequately the responsibilities entrusted to him. 16 6 President's difficulties in CU/ARTS climaxed when Stephens, in his capacity as supervisor, wrote a highly unfavorable evaluation report on President's performance. 17 Stephens rated him only average in eleven and below average in five of the seventeen categories addressed in the report. 18 In written comments accompanying the report, Stephens asserted that President was unable to perform many of the duties specified in his job description, and concluded, I consider Mr. President, through no fault of his own, to have been misplaced and misassigned in the Bureau. 19 Coriden, as director of the office, reviewed the evaluation and agreed with Stephens on many points. Coriden disagreed, however, with Stephens' overall conclusion, stating that based on Mr. President's background and experience I do not believe he was misassigned but (I believe that he) could have been expected to do the work. 20 7 All other employees of CU/ARTS were rated as average to above average in performance. 21 Quite understandably, President was outraged at being evaluated so harshly, and he presented a detailed rebuttal running to nearly 100 pages, including attached exhibits. 22 In his rebuttal, President contended that he had been victimized by racial discrimination in the performance evaluation, and stated his intention to pursue administrative remedies and ultimately file a lawsuit against the Department. 23 On October 17, 1975, Stephens, apparently jarred by the tone of President's rebuttal, submitted eighteen pages of comments in which, to make a long story short, he denied virtually all of President's allegations. 24