District of South Dakota – Page 11

According to the complaint, in October 2010, Cedric Goodman, a Native American with supervisory experience as a social worker, as well as several other well-qualified Native Americans, applied for an Employment Specialist position at DSS’s Pine Ridge Office. The complaint alleges that after interviewing Goodman and the other Native American candidates who met the employer’s objective job qualifications, DSS removed the vacancy and hired no one. The next day, however, DSS reopened the position and ultimately selected a white applicant with inferior qualifications and no similar work experience. The complaint alleges that DSS discriminated against Goodman and other similarly-situated Native American applicants based on their race.

In addition, the complaint alleges that denying Goodman’s application was part of a pattern or practice of race discrimination by DSS, where the agency repeatedly removed job postings and used subjective, arbitrary hiring practices to reject qualified Native American applicants for Specialist positions.

Over a two year period beginning in 2010, DSS posted 18 Specialist vacancies for its Pine Ridge Reservation Office. Even though the agency received nearly 40 percent of its applications from Native Americans, DSS hired 11 Whites and only one Native American, while removing six other openings entirely.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Sues Interior over Bureau of Indian Education Reorganization

October 7, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the complaint in Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe v. Jewell (D. S.D.):

1 Complaint

An excerpt:

Plaintiff, an Indian Tribe operating under grants from or contracts with the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Public Laws 93-638 and 100-297, as amended), and upon whose reservation the Defendant directly operates a BIE-run school, seeks a permanent injunction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. Rule 65, a Writ of Mandamus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1361 and 1362, and Declaratory Relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201 et seq., and an Order to enforce compliance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement and Stipulated Final Judgment entered by this Court in Yankton Sioux Tribe, et al. v. Kempthorne, et al, #4:06-cv-04091-KES (DSD) to enjoin Defendants from proceeding with their announced plan to restructure the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education (hereinafter “BIE”), and its subsidiary offices and staff in a manner that will reduce and/or eliminate its legal obligations to Indian Tribes, Tribal Schools, and ultimately to the individual Tribal member students of those schools, including the Plaintiff, under the United States Constitution, treaties with the various Indian tribes, federal statutes, regulations, or policies, in a manner that is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion given to the Executive Branch to carry out the United States Congress’ legislative mandates, and/or violation of federal law or regulation.