Former Fort Carson Employee Gets New Hearing
When Anthony Jackson checked his mail on his birthday last Saturday, he said, what he got was better than any birthday card he could imagine.
Jackson, 54, a former range control civilian employee at Fort Carson, received a letter from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The letter stated that the Commission had reversed decisions from three EEOC hearings held in 2009 at Fort Carson, in Denver and in San Diego.
Jackson said in those hearings, he accused 7 supervisors of racial and job discrimination. The EEOC ruled against him in those hearings, but Saturday’s letter stated those rulings were overturned by the main EEOC office in Washington, D.C.
The letter also ordered a new hearing on the matter, which pleased Jackson.
“You have to fight and do what’s right,” he said. “This means more to me than anything. I hope Fort Carson will investigate more deeply and help stop the discrimination on-post. It’s bad, and it’s against the law.”
The treatment Jackson said he received, included a rope being tied into a hanging noose on his desk, verbal threats and physical injury from doing jobs he wasn’t required to.
Jackson said because of stress and bad health from his experience, he is disabled, and he medically retired from Fort Carson in March 2009, but has yet to receive benefits. However, he said he cares more about helping other post minorities who are receiving the same treatment.
“Women, older women, men of color, men with disabilities, civilians and soldiers,” Jackson said. “People have been paid off to be quiet. They’re afraid to lose their jobs. All I am asking for, is to just fix the problem. Don’t cover it up.”
Jackson said he feels so strongly about ending discrimination on-post that he has refused to accept a financial settlement from Fort Carson. He said he wants his former supervisors to be held accountable.
“Seven people were implicated,” Jackson said. “Every one of them is still working, and some have even been promoted.”
Jackson said he should know the time and place for his hearing within the next month.
A Fort Carson spokesperson said the post is not aware of all aspects of Jackson’s case.
