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| Two women who worked at Georgetown University claim that their
gay supervisors favored attractive young men in job promotions and that they were
discriminated against because they were heterosexual women. (Photo courtesy of
Georgetown University)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
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Georgetown Information Services Department.
The department manages the university’s computers for purposes of maintaining
data on finances, personnel, student information, and other “infrastructure”
functions, according to the lawsuit.
The suit states that Hicks started work at the department in 1989 as a programmer/analyst
and was later promoted to the position of systems analyst. It says Nudelman
began at the department in 1988 and was also promoted from programmer/analyst
to systems analyst. Throughout their tenures, the suit says, both women, who
are heterosexual, received “excellent performance evaluations and their
job performance was consistently excellent.”
The suit states, “Kevin Murphy, who was the director of the University
Information [Services] department, was the key decision-maker during the layoff.
Both he and Charles Leonhardt (an Assistant Director in the department) are
gay,” the suit says.
“Mr. Leonhardt and Mr. Murphy demonstrated favoritism toward young attractive
men in the hiring process, job assignments, and training opportunities in the
department,” the suit says. “In turn, the superior jobs and training
gained by young attractive men affected their retention during the layoff.”
Murphy and Leonhardt did not return calls seeking comment by press time.
The suit alleges that although less than 40 percent of the “affected
workforce” was female, approximately 70 percent of the employees terminated
in the layoffs were female.
“Though only about 50 percent of the affected workforce was age 40 or
older, more than 70 percent the terminated employees were 40 or older,”
the lawsuit says.
The suit also states that while about 30 percent of the workforce in question
was African American, blacks made up more than 55 percent of the employees terminated
in the department.
The suit says Hicks and Nudelman were over 40 at the time of the layoff, although
it doesn’t identify their exact age. Micah said the two women are white,
and thus they did not allege racial discrimination, even though they believe
racial considerations may have played a role in the layoffs.
Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.
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