Secretary Paulson
A tax examiner for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has filed a discrimination suit against Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr., alleging a less qualified African American female was given a promotion before he was.
Gary Aubuchon, a Caucasian male, alleges he submitted an application to his IRS Human Resources office on March 30, 2007, to fill a vacancy to be a Grade 14 internal examiner of a specific corporate taxpayer.
According to Aubuchon, he is a Grade 13 revenue agent out of the St. Louis IRS office and has been employed there since October 1979.
He claims after submitting his application he mailed the entire package, including a Form 4536, with a certified receipt to the human resources office.
Aubuchon claims after the application period closed, his supervisor informed him on April 17, 2007, that he was not being considered because he failed to include Form 4536 with his application.
Aubuchon claims he contacted human resources the same day and they confirmed they received both the faxed application and the mailed application that he sent but neither contained Form 4536.
"Aubuchon maintained a copy of the mailed application which included a copy of the Form 4536," the complaint states.
According to Aubuchon, the collective bargaining agreement concerning his employment states that when an application is found to be lacking information within the employee's control, he is to be notified and then given five days to submit the information.
In addition, Aubuchon alleges female applicants who applied for other positions were allowed to submit application information after the closing date for the announcement and were then considered for the position.
Aubuchon also alleges only females who applied for the vacancy were added to the "Best Qualified List."
He alleges he is a victim of discrimination because of his gender because he was passed over for a position he was well qualified in favor of a less qualified female who has less experience.
Aubuchon claims the discrimination caused him to suffer damage through the loss of employment opportunities and advances in employment consistent with his career goals and objectives as well as lost salary and benefits.
He also claims the ordeal caused him to suffer emotional distress, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.
Aubuchon seeks a mandatory injunction directing Paulson to appoint him to the position he applied for and damages sufficient to compensate him for the economic losses suffered due to the denial of career advancement opportunities.
He is represented by James Baker of Springfield.
U.S. District Judge G. Patrick Murphy has been assigned to the case.