When the Sitka National Historic Park in southeast Alaska celebrated its centennial in 2010, Mary Miller was starting her third year as the park's superintendent. At the time, Alaska Geographic called Miller, who is of Tlingit and Russian descent, "doubly symbolic" of the site's storied past. In what has come to be known as the "Battle of 1804," Alaska Natives mounted a failed but valiant attempt to prevent Russian conquest.
More than two centuries later, Miller found herself celebrating the rich history of the area and its 100-year anniversary as a National Park while embroiled in a workplace battle she would at first lose, then win. Her employer, the National Park Service, would ultimately send her packing, only to be told later to undo its decision and bring Miller back to work.
Miller claimed her removal was "tainted by discrimination" based on her Alaska Native race, sex and physical disability. Her first attempt to seek relief failed. An administrative board sided with the Park Service, finding the agency had the authority to dismiss her. But Miller was unrelenting, and appealed the decision, a move that will result in her return to work this month.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board ordered the National Park Service to reinstate Miller, with back pay and benefits. In its role as an investigator and watchdog for federal employees, the quasi-judicial agency aims to keep the "federal workforce free of prohibited personnel practices."
AFN calls Miller reinstatement a significant victory
Soon after the decision came in, the Alaska Federation of Natives, which supported Miller's effort to fight her dismissal, heralded it as a significant victory. "Mary had energy and brought value and a Native presence to the Sitka National Historical Park. We were disappointed about her removal and protested directly to the Department of Interior," AFN President Julie Kitka said in a prepared statement. "This decision highlights the need for the federal government to look at Alaska Native employment statistics, increased retention and increased opportunities for Native representation in key management positions."
"I am so grateful to my family, friends, colleagues and members of the community who have supported me throughout this arduous process. This decision has restored my faith in the system and I'm looking forward to getting back to work to continue building agency relations with the community," Miller, an engineer with a MBA, said in the same prepared release about her victory.
Declined Native Liason position in Anchorage
In April of 2010, the Park Service created a new "Alaska Native Affairs Liason" position in Anchorage and asked Miller if she wanted it. Citing geographic and other hardships, Miller declined. She was then told that if she didn't take the job, efforts to remove her would begin. Four months later, in the midst of the months-long centennial celebration, Miller continued to reject the transfer to Anchorage and was let go for her refusal to accept a "management-directed assignment."
The decision issued by the Merit Board does not plunge into enough detail to know whether it agreed racial or other discrimination had taken place. Instead, it framed its inquiry into whether Miller's dismissal was retaliatory or discriminatory in nature by looking at whether the decision promoted "efficiency of service" within the National Park Service.
In this prong of the Park Service's employment mission, the board found the Park Service had failed. The Park Service "did not promote the efficiency of the service to direct the appellant to take the position in Anchorage against her will and to remove her from employment altogether when she declined. As a result of the Park Service's actions, it lost an apparently valued and successful employee, and created two vacancies that the agency had to fill after her removal. Accordingly, the appellant's removal is reversed," the board wrote in its order.
The National Park Service has until April 23 to reinstate Miller as the Superintendent of the Sitka National Historical Park.
Contact Jill Burke at jill(at)alaskadispatch.com