WAITING FOR JUSTICE: A LOOK AT THE DENNIS TURNER V. UNITED STATES CASE AND THE ENDLESS LITIGATION

By James Vines

Imagine that you are a good employee working for the government. Imagine that you do your best to live up to the standards set by your agency. Now imagine that you come forward and report a malfeasance, in other words you are now a whistleblower. Now imagine that for your attempt to do the right thing, you are then singled out and punished by being retaliated against by your employer. Now imagine that you have been waiting 25 years for justice only to still be waiting. If you are Dennis Turner and nearly 60 thousand other current and former Federal Bureau of Prisons you do not have to imagine this. It is a living reality of an endless class action law suit.
In 1994 an African American officer working at the federal prison complex in Florence Colorado did just that, he became a whistleblower. After this action he believed that he was being singled out for retaliation, so he filed an EEOC complaint. The case went on until 1998 when he was enjoined by many other federal employees who felt like they had been treated unfairly and had been retaliated against. The case them became a class action and a catch basket for anyone who files a similar complaint. Now in 2021 there seems to be no end in sight to the litigation of this case. Despite the fact that the EEOC handles tens of thousands of cases each year, no one can seem to end one law suit. According to one of the plaintiff’s lawyers John Mosby ESQ. “the judge in the case does not have a time limit to render a decision on any motions”. When contacted about the status of the case Mary Kay Mauren Attorney Advisor Office of Field Programs EEOC stated “The parties in the Turner case continue to file extensive briefing. The assigned administrative judge has been conducting status conferences to keep the litigation on track. Given the complexity of the case it is difficult to anticipate when the case will reach final resolution. “The federal Bureau of Prisons was contacted to comment but all that was received was an automatic email reply. With no conclusive answers pending, you are still waiting for Justice if you are litigant in the Dennis Turner v. United States class action. A quarter of a century in the making and no Justice in sight!