The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs obtained this week a $30,000 jury verdict against the U.S. Agency for International Development in the trial of Melvin Porter v. United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

Mr. Porter, a long-standing and exemplary employee at USAID since 1985, consistently received recognition for his outstanding performance.  Despite his experience and qualifications, Mr. Porter, an African American, hit a glass ceiling at USAID and had been unable to advance beyond the GS-14 level since 1987. When Mr. Porter complained of discrimination at USAID, his supervisors singled him out as a troublemaker, and further discriminated and retaliated against him. The jury found that USAID had illegally retaliated against Mr. Porter when it denied him two promotions in 1998. The jury awarded him $15,000 in compensatory damages for each promotion denied. In light of the verdict, Mr. Porter will be able to seek from the court a promotion, a back pay award, and attorneys’ fees. The law firm of Covington & Burling and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee served as co-counsel for Mr. Porter.

community. Over the past 30 years, the Committee has set a national standard for civil rights advocacy by mobilizing the resources of volunteer lawyers and law firms to provide more than 50,000 hours of legal representation annually and handle more than 5,000 cases for the Committee’s clients.

For more information about the Committee, see www.washlaw.org.