18 NOVEMBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the encouragement of their supervisors—which also came to light during litigation. In one exchange, my supervisor relayed to their reviewer that the EEO office had not agreed to act on the complaint against me but had offered to mediate between all parties. My supervisor turned down the mediation offer. • While in outpatient treatment, I met with the Office of the Ombuds, explained the state of affairs, and asked for their help. The ombuds agreed to mediate, providing all parties agreed to participate. My supervisors refused to participate. • My direct supervisor’s hostile behavior toward me was no secret. I had alerted my reviewing officer in October 2019 that my supervisor’s punitive behavior was retriggering my PTSD symptoms. I reported higher up the chain on three occasions to my reviewer’s supervisor that my supervisor was abusive, but that senior officer took no steps to stop the behavior, on one occasion asking, “Can’t you just not let yourself be abused?” When asked if I had reported the abuse, this same Senior FSO responded in a legal affidavit that nothing I had reported “sounded like abuse” and that my complaints were “taxing.” • I met with the post EEO counselor the day before my medevac. This counselor later contested that I had begun the EEO process since I had not filed a formal complaint that day. I later discovered this EEO counselor had also handled my supervisor’s EEO complaint damages. In the end, I decided there was no amount of money that could compensate me for what I had endured. I found my settlement satisfactory—my lawyers even told me they had never seen the department go to such lengths to set things right. I did not ask for any measures to be taken against my former supervisors. I cannot think of a single thing they could do that would make up for the working environment I had endured. e I do not want to relitigate my case— that is over and done with. However, a few instructive points show how my situation degenerated needlessly. In retrospect, there were a number of missed opportunities to correct course and avoid a lawsuit, which would have been to the benefit of all involved, including the American people. • My supervisors had somehow gained access to a private Facebook group. They read some anonymous posts on this site and assumed I had written about them. Rather than confront me directly about these posts, they kept their activities secret for months, creating logs of which posts they believed I had made and why they believed my alleged anonymous postings were unfair. These logs did not come to light until the litigation process was underway. • My direct supervisor apparently was so upset about the anonymous posts that they met with the post EEO counselor and filed an EEO complaint against me, with the knowledge if not In the end, I decided there was no amount of money that could compensate me for what I had endured.
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