Ex-public defender loses appeal in sexual harassment case against US judiciary
A three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld, opens new tab a trial judge's ruling last year that Caryn Strickland failed to establish that her rights under the U.S. Constitution to equal protection under the law and due process were violated.
Because all of the 4th Circuit's judges were recused from hearing her case, it was assigned to three judges from other federal appeals courts including U.S. Circuit Judge Ronald Lee Gilman of the 6th Circuit, who wrote Friday's opinion.
He acknowledged that judiciary employees "behaved imperfectly" and made "missteps" as her complaint wound through the court's so-called employment dispute resolution (EDR) process, through which misconduct complaints are routed.
But he said the process was not so fundamentally unfair that it violated Strickland's due-process rights. Gilman said Strickland "does not explain how these failures would have deprived her of a fair fight" had she moved forward with her complaint.
"Strickland does not explain persuasively why those remedies were insufficient to vindicate her substantive right under the EDR Plan to be free of sexual harassment and discrimination," Gilman wrote.
Strickland, who represented herself on appeal, did not respond to a request for comment.
Her case had been the subject of a rare trial that focused on how the judiciary handles complaints of workplace misconduct by its 30,000 employees, who unlike other workers nationally are not covered by statutes protecting them against discrimination.
Strickland was among a group of female former judiciary employees who testified to Congress in 2022 in support of legislation to give judicial employees greater rights, a proposal Democratic lawmakers continue to pursue while calling for the judiciary to do more to deter workplace misconduct.
She had worked from 2017 to 2019 in the Western District of North Carolina in the Federal Public Defender's Office, which provides lawyers for indigent defendants and is part of the federal judiciary.
Strickland sued in 2020, alleging her rights were violated through the mishandling of her complaint about her direct supervisor.
She cited a May 18, 2018, "quid pro quo" email he sent after they had drinks offering to help her career, saying he had a "plan" to help her raise her pay, adding "just remember I deal in pay-for-stay :)."
Strickland alleged the then-top federal defender in her district responded to her complaint with deliberate indifference and that officials botched the handling of a complaint she pursued through the EDR system managed by the 4th Circuit.
U.S. District Judge William Young in August 2024 ruled against her following a non-jury trial, saying her due process and equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment were not violated.
Even as he ruled against her, Young, a Boston-based judge who heard the North Carolina case due to local conflicts, joined the calls to reform the system, saying if "judges are serious about sexual harassment, we must own the process."
The case is Strickland v. United States, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-2056.
For Strickland: Caryn Strickland
For the government: Kevin Soter of the U.S. Department of Justice
Read more:
Ex-public defender loses sexual harassment case against US judiciary
Sexual harassment trial against US judiciary comes to close
US judiciary faces sexual harassment claims at trial
Settlement talks collapse in sexual harassment case against US judiciary
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Judge urges settlement ahead of US judiciary sexual harassment trial
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