A glowing review, then two failing marks - what changed in between
A disabled Marine and Army veteran says the agency that protects American workers turned on him after he spoke up.
Wesley Lucas built a life around service - two tours in Afghanistan, then a federal civilian career that brought him to the US Department of Labor. In May 2023, he moved into OSHA's Hartford Area Office as a compliance safety and health officer. According to a complaint filed June 21, 2026 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, what followed is a sequence HR leaders will recognize as a retaliation risk.
Lucas alleges that from the start, he was troubled by what he describes as management's "tolerance for sexual harassment and harassment and discrimination based on race and gender." The filing says he complained, again and again, about the treatment of the only Black female employee in the office, a co-worker to whom he later became engaged.
The timeline is where the case lives. In November 2023, the complaint says, his supervisor backed his promotion from GS-11 to GS-12. That April, he received what the filing calls a "glowing" mid-term review. Then he kept complaining, and he served as a witness in an internal sexual harassment investigation. In October 2024, the complaint says, his rating dropped to "minimally successful" - close on the heels of his protected activity.
That rating hit his wallet. Based on it, the filing says, his within-grade pay increase was denied on...
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