Leslie Hagen has
returned to her job as an attorney for the Justice
Department, 10 months after she was sacked for being gay.
In 2006, Hagen
was the liaison between the Justice Department and the
U.S. Attorneys' committee on Native American affairs. She
routinely received outstanding marks from supervisors,
but as National Public Radio reported last year, she
was removed from her job after a top aide to former
attorney general Alberto Gonzales passed on a rumor to
senior counsel that Hagen is a lesbian.
Despite
sexual-orientation discrimination protections within the
Justice Department, Hagen lost her job. Monica
Goodling, senior counsel to Gonzales, was responsible
for removing Hagen from her position, and after an
investigation by the inspector general it was discovered
that Goodling had also been instrumental in
preventing Hagen from seeking a new position within
the Justice Department.
In attempting to
fill Hagen's open position a nationwide search was
conducted by the Justice Department. Hagen herself was one
of the many who applied, and after several rounds of
interviews, Hagen was offered her former position. On
Monday, Hagen assumed a permanent position at the
department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. (She had
formerly worked on a yearly contract basis.)
Despite being
rehired, Hagen's case is not closed. The department
has not offered her an apology, nor has it agreed
to pay the thousands of dollars she owes in legal
fees. With Eric Holder now confirmed as the
nation's attorney general, perhaps these issues will be
reconsidered. (Shannon Connolly, Advocate.com)
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