Ex-Labor Dept. worker can sue agency despite settlement, court says

(Reuters) - A settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor and a longtime employee who accused the agency of race and sex discrimination did not bar her from filing a separate lawsuit claiming she was unlawfully fired while the case was pending, a U.S. appeals court said on Friday.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said a release in the 2013 settlement between the department and Karin Weng, an employee benefits law specialist, only covered claims that arose from her employment with the agency and not from the termination that occurred after she had sued.

DOL did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did Weng, who represented herself in the appeal.

Weng, who is Taiwanese and joined DOL in 1995, claimed in a 2010 lawsuit that she was subjected to racist slurs and jokes. She resigned in 2012 after being told that she would be fired for performance-related reasons and filed a grievance accusing DOL of retaliation. She settled the lawsuit in 2013 on undisclosed terms.

Weng then sued DOL in Washington, D.C., federal court in 2015, claiming she was fired in retaliation for bringing the discrimination lawsuit, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A federal judge ruled for the department in 2020, finding that a release Weng had signed when she settled the 2010 lawsuit extended to any Title VII claims arising out of her employment.

But the D.C. Circuit on Friday said the release included a carve-out for claims related to the grievance Weng had filed after she left DOL. And the judge was wrong to find that her release of Title VII claims trumped the carve-out, Circuit Judge Harry Edwards wrote.

The court sent the case back to the district court to rule on DOL's separate argument that Weng failed to exhaust administrative remedies before suing over her termination.

The panel included Circuit Judges Sri Srinivasan and David Tatel.

The case is Weng v. Walsh, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, No. 20-5264.

For Weng: pro se

For DOL: Stephen DeGenaro of the U.S. Department of Justice

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