PHILADELPHIA - Alleged racial and gender discrimination against one of its employees brought civil charges against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and three of its supervisors, according to an April 1 lawsuit filed in Philadelphia federal court.
The charges come from plaintiff Darlea Felder, a Philadelphia woman who worked as a business teacher at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) Phoenix.
Felder says she was treated differently because of her being a Black woman from the start, including being paid less than her white male employees, being given job tasks beneath her job description, being forced to cross the 265-acre campus to teach in two classrooms unlike all the other teachers and being subjected to racial slurs and comments.
The plaintiff also accuses the DOC's employees that oversaw her as an employee of retaliating against her with more unfair treatment when she attempted to report the discrimination.
The employees named in the suit include SCI Phoenix Superintendent Jamie Sorber, SCI Phoenix Deputy Superintendent for Centralized Services Joseph Terra and DOC Bureau of Correction Education Director Terri Fazio.
The defendants are charged with discrimination and retaliation in violation of the Civil Rights Act and U.S. Code. Felder is represented by Derek Smith Law Group LLC of Philadelphia.