The U.S. Postal Service has settled for $65,000 a discrimination suit filed by a former Bronx mail carrier who alleged he was discriminated against because he is Jewish. The settlement with Marshall Garvin, 59, who said he was forced to retire as a mail carrier in February 2002, came after Manhattan Federal Judge John Koeltl refused to dismiss a suit Garvin filed against the Postal Service alleging retaliation.
Although the court rejected Garvin’s claims that he "suffered religious discrimination and was subjected to a hostile work environment because of his religious beliefs," it noted that he was disciplined 11 times between October 1998 and June 2000. Garvin challenged 10 of those actions and nine were rescinded, canceled, expunged or reduced.
"Although several of these disciplinary measures individually might not comprise an adverse employment action," Koeltl said, "they contribute to establishing an adverse employment action in which the plaintiff was subjected to a pattern of letters of warning, suspensions and notices of removal …"
The court also refused to dismiss Garvin’s claim that the Postal Service violated an agreement it signed with him in 1998 in which it agreed to treat him with "dignity and respect … like all other employees."
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