discrimination of a woman by a woman

["Elizabeth R. Fulton" <fultonpi@aol.com>]

I worked as the investigator for the Public Defenders office in the county that I live in for 5 years on a contract and one year as a regular employee.  In the fall of 1997 I was forced to take a leave of absence and leave the area because of gang retaliation (for something on of my sons helped the local police do.) We were actually told by the local police to leave- they said they could not protect us.  We returned home in December at which point I told my boss I was ready to go back to work.  She said I could not yet but that I had my job for as long as I wanted it.  This went on from December to April at which time I was called in to the county administrators office and told there were safety concerns and that I could not go back to work, I was terminated.  My boss stated that the concerns were for myself as well as the attorneys I worked with.  (All of which though I should be allowed to return to work as long as I was comfortable)  My boss stated that it would not be safe for others to go into the field with me.  The problem with that is they seldom went anyway, unless they just wanted to get out of the office for a while.  I was replaced by a young girl who took the job with the agreement that she would not have to go into any of the "bad" areas of town (according to some of the other attorneys in the office). This is a Public Defenders office the clients come from bad areas.  EEOC so far little help.