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A second employee at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is suing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano over claims his career was curtailed due to anti-male bias at the agency, The Post has learned.
Jason Mount alleges in court papers that he was denied 43 promotions because he’s a white male and that he took a lower-grade job because of “how serious the discrimination and retaliation had become.”
Mount, 37, filed suit on July 31, about two months after ICE official James Hayes Jr. sued Napolitano for $3 million for allegedly pushing him out of a top job in Washington, DC, to make way for Dora Schriro, later named New York City’s jails commissioner.
Hayes, now in charge of ICE investigations in New York City, says Schriro was less qualified than him but was allowed to usurp his role because she “enjoyed a longstanding relationship” with Napolitano.
Schriro served as director of the Arizona Department of Corrections under then-Gov. Napolitano.
According to Mount’s suit, he began working for the US Customs Service in September 2001 and was promoted to branch chief/supervisory special agent at ICE headquarters in DC in October 2009.
But after leveling a November 2010 complaint of gender discrimination in relation to “not being provided an office,” court papers say he was repeatedly subjected to illegal retaliation that kept him from rising in the ranks.
His DC federal court filing details dozens of incidents in which he was allegedly passed over for promotions despite being fully qualified.
The litany of allegations include Mount’s September 2010 application to fill an assistant-special-agent-in-charge, or ASAC, post with Homeland Security Investigations in Boston.
Despite receiving “a rating of 100 percent on the knowledge, skills and abilities rating factors for the position,” Mount says, he was never contacted “to take part in an interview or further selection activities.”
Instead, court papers say the job went to a woman who was one step lower than Mount on the federal civil-service pay scale.
In addition, the woman, Linda Hunt, hadn’t completed an 18-month tour of duty at HSI headquarters in Washington, which “is required to be considered for an ASAC position,” the suit says.
Because of “the severe and pervasive retaliation and discrimination,” Mount says, he “essentially committed career suicide” in December 2011 and asked for a reassignment, “stating that he would be willing to accept a downgrade” in rank and pay.
After sending the memo, he was notified in March that he was selected for a spot in Boston and “begrudgingly accepted” the offer, the suit states.
Mount didn’t return phone calls seeking comment, and his lawyer, Morris Fischer, who is also representing Hayes, declined to discuss Mount’s suit.
An ICE spokesperson said, “US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently received a copy of Mr. Mount’s complaint. The agency doesn’t comment on unfounded claims and will respond to Mr. Mount’s allegations as appropriate through the judicial system.”
Meanwhile, a federal official said the allegations in Hayes’ suit “do not align with the fact that Mr. Hayes has routinely held high-ranking assignments, including his current position as special agent in charge of ICE’s second-largest field office.”
The official also said the Department of Homeland Security “intends to timely file a motion to dismiss this unmeritorious lawsuit” to meet an Aug. 24 deadline.
bruce.golding@nypost.com