NASA's struggles with racial equity just got more public, thanks to employees of color at the agency who alleged that its internal ratings system discriminated against Black and Asian-American workers.
Ben Robbins, who is heading up a class action lawsuit against the agency, said that the dark cloud that hovers over them is very profound.
The agency's internal performance rating system, which evaluates how employees are performing on key metrics, and is used to determine whether they are eligible for promotions or awards, appears to show Black employees being scored lower, according to Robbins.
According to Robbins, only about 14 percent of the workers in his pay grade and specialty were black. They were not eligible for raises, promotions, or awards until the next review period because they received lower ratings in the performance review system.
The current suit alleges that the performance rating system is flawed in ways that reduce accuracy when rating minority subordinates.
Robbins, who started at NASA as an intern in 1991, said that the color of his skin makes him more likely to get a less than stellar rating.
It has been a long time since the road was last traveled. Robbins' Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint was pre-filed in November of 2012 Black and Asian-American NASA employees can now be represented by Robbins and Fordan after an administrative judge certified the class. Things are heating up in this case.
The case was acknowledged and defended by a NASA spokesman.
"NASA is committed to its diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility goals and ensuring all agency employees are treated fairly including in how employees are rated and rewarded for their contributions to the nation's space program," the spokesman said. NASA has been rated the #1 place to work in the federal government for 10 years in a row. Our talent is our greatest asset.
Robbins has a complicated relationship with the agency. On the other hand, he is fond of NASA and his work there, and speaks highly of his coworkers and supervisors. He thinks it's time for its workers to take action because its efforts to foster diversity and equity have fallen short.
He said that NASA hasn't come close to achieving the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility principles that they aspire to. In terms of constructive actions, very little has been done.
Without the data he obtained through his Freedom of Information Act request, the discrimination is almost invisible.
He said that he had not experienced any overt racism. I'm not sure how these people feel inside. The people in charge still benefit from this system.
The goal of the suit is to get back wages for past damages, as well as changes in the evaluation process to eliminate or at least reduce the disparity going forward.
All federal employees should be evaluated fairly, according to Michael Lieder, Robbins' lawyer. There is no reason to think that the performance of African American and Asian Americans at NASA is worse than that of whites.
Since Robbins began this process, NASA hasn't done much to defend itself. The NASA engineer is also affected by that.
Robbins said that the agency's refusal to correct the issue leaves a bad taste. It's not just with performance ratings, but the way employees are trained and developed and the opportunities that go missing because of the discrimination in our agency.
He said it was disenchanting. It has been a reality check.
The former NASA Second-in-Command says she was called "Vile Sexist Slurs" at the agency.
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