Boys gone wild? Feds ignored complaints that office on the USC campus was a cauldron of sex harassment, suit claims

A Department of Justice employee has sued U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder alleging that his agency turned a blind eye to rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment at a federal office on the University of South Carolina campus.

Melinda D. Moore asserts in her civil rights suit that the former director of the Office of Legal Education, Michael W. Bailie, and her “other male supervisors created a sexualized, hostile work environment in which inappropriate sexual jokes, derogatory comments about women, and lewd gestures were commonplace.”

Bailie retired from his post in April 2011, about a month after Moore filed a complaint against him with the Office of Legal Education. But even in the wake of Bailie’s absence, Moore alleges that she continues to be the “target of ire among certain employees who were loyal to Bailie and has received unfounded write ups.” She sued Holder for gender discrimination on Aug. 15.

Her suit, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Columbia, includes accusations against Bailie and other current or former supervisors at the Office of Legal Education, which is part of the National Advocacy Center on the USC campus and an arm of the Department of Justice.

Moore began working under Bailie in 2008, when she was hired to train employees to investigate Medicaid fraud. She said Bailie encouraged a locker room atmosphere in the office by frequently making perverse comments about women, sending out sexually inappropriate emails and, on at least one occasion, showing several employees a picture of a naked woman on a cellphone while “using it as a point of reference to talk about other women in the lounge.”

According to the suit, Bailie would ask, “Who has two thumbs and likes [oral sex]?” then point to himself. He also would say things like, “Would you like some fries with that shake?” and described an employee’s girlfriend as “[breasts] on a stick.”

Moore asserts that she rolled her eyes and tried to discourage the behavior, but “feared saying anything to Bailie because anytime he was angry he would scream at and berate employees and kick trash cans across the room.”

While Moore was offended by Bailie, she said several women in the office played along with him. He called them “Mike’s Girls” and gave them pet names such as “Queeny” and “Trixy,” while referring to women outside the clique as “bitch” in front of coworkers, the suit alleges.

One of the women in Bailie’s crew was promoted to the same position as Moore despite having only a high school education. Moore had a master’s degree in education from the University of Maryland.

She also alleges that women in her office were routinely passed over for promotions or paid less than their male counterparts, despite being equally or better qualified. She said she complained to Bailie about the disparate treatment in 2009, and a few months later he transferred her to another department, where she was supervised by one of Bailie’s friends and relegated to secretarial work.

Later that same year and on at least two more occasions in 2010, Moore complained about what was happening in the office but the supervisors who heard her concerns did nothing aside from offering to transfer her again. Meanwhile, Moore said she was given difficult tasks and no support as part of what she saw as an attempt to set her up for failure or force her to quit.

After she formally complained to the Office of Legal Education in the winter of 2011, Bailie was not punished and was instead allowed to retire, “presumably with all the benefits that go along with retirement,” the suit states. “There is now a statue on the [National Advocacy Center] campus of Mike Bailie lauding his service to” the Department of Justice.

Moore now works as a project manager at a different branch of the Department of Justice. Her attorneys, Benjamin M. Mabry and Janet E. Rhodes of the Mabry Law Firm in Columbia, did not respond to an interview request.

The U.S. attorney’s office refused to comment on Moore’s allegations and attempts to contact Bailie were unsuccessful. Assistant U.S. attorney Paul B. Taylor of Asheville is defending the office against the suit. He has been given until Dec. 2 to answer Moore’s complaint.

The response had been due by Nov. 4, but the court extended the deadline in light of the recent government shutdown, which left the U.S. attorney’s office short-staffed and caused many potential witnesses in the case to be furloughed.

Follow Phillip Bantz on Twitter @NCLWBantz