I began working as a temporary employee for State of Washington, DSHS, Division of Child Support, in November, 2004. I was hired as a permanent employee in February, 2005. I began dating a co-worker in March who worked in Personnel.

In July, 2005 the relationship ended and for whatever reason my co-worker had management launch an investigation into her allegation that I had accessed her file. Management questioned me on this and I admitted that I had accessed her file.

On August 2nd, 2005 I was informed by the Acting Director that my position was being terminated for accessing a co-workers file. In my termination letter he stated that I was trained on DSHS' confidentiality expectations which is not true. DSHS does have orientation for new employees, which some employees had attended, but I had not been scheduled for one. I therefore had not been trained or counseled on agency policies.

My issues are as follows: 1. That I was discriminated against by being terminated, while other employees I had talked to had been counseled and reprimanded but not terminated for the same policy violation that I allegedly committed. This is a double standard and in addition my termination letter states that “inappropriate use of confidential state resources will not be tolerated by anyone working for DSHS. 2. My co-worker, whom I dated, worked in personnel and is personally known by the acting director, which I believe could have contributed to my termination. This is retaliation. 3. I was within 3 days of completing my 6 month probation and feel that this was a way for them to prevent me from utilizing union representation, and avoid my being able to file a grievance. 4. The co-worker I had dated had knowledge that I allegedly accessed her file since February, 2005, yet did not report it until July, 2005. This also an example of retaliation. Do you think I have a provable case? Thank you.