Harvard to Settle With Student Worker

The University announced yesterday it will seek to settle, under Equal Employment Opportunities Commission mediation (EEOC), a case involving a Radcliffe student employee who charged Buildings and Grounds with sex discrimination when B&G did not rehire her last summer.

Edward W. Powers, director of employee relations, said yesterday that although Harvard has found no evidence of sex discrimination in its investigation of the charge, it will attempt to reach a settlement with the student, Ellen G. Green '76.

Powers, who conducted the University investigation, said he decided to recommend settlement of the case because the reasons for not rehiring Green given by B&G supervisors were "not consistent."

Last June, Green worked on the Business School dorm crew for one week, and during that time repeatedly asked to be rehired for a second week.

Filled

She said at the time that a B&G dorm crew supervisor had told her several times that all second-week jobs had already been filled, and then openly hired a male student who had not previously asked for a job.

Green filed a complaint about the incident with the EEOC in June, charging Harvard with "discriminatory hiring practices based on sex." Soon after, Harvard launched its own investigation under Powers.

Powers said Harvard was prompted to offer a settlement because of a recent renewal of the EEOC investigation. He said the University may agree to grant Green full pay for the week's work she was denied, but added that the final judgment of an award in the case rests with the EEOC, whose investigator will serve in a mediating capacity.

Green could not be reached for comment last night, and Powers said he has not been in communication with her since she filed the complaint.

Inconsistent

"We didn't decide the case had to be settled because Ellen Green is a women," Powers said. "We just felt that the statements made to us and to her by the supervisors were just inconsistent."

Initially, Powers said, a supervisor had told him that Green wasn't rehired because "the guy they gave it to had asked earlier."

Powers said he was later told that the student hired in Green's place was "just a better performer."

In July, Green said she "filed the claim to get people at B&G to use some fair procedures for deciding which students get to stay the extra week; I just didn't like getting lied to."

"We have notified the EEOC that we will settle with Ellen Green as soon as possible," Powers said.