December 12, 2025 — Article 36 of PEF’s collective bargaining agreement with New York State is known as the “No Discrimination Article.” It establishes a Joint Affirmative Action Advisory Committee (JAAAC) staffed by the union and the State.
Eric Josey works with the JAAAC as a consultant. He advises PEF members who feel they have been discriminated against at work. Recently, he was referred to a former employee from the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Deidre Manns, after she experienced several counts of discrimination as one of three Black employees in her agency.
“This case actually came to me from President Spence. Deidre was an investigator with an impressive resume,” said Josey. “When I got the case, I found it to be very credible.”
Manns was hired by DFS in 2016 as a Financial Fraud Investigator in the Criminal Investigative Unit of the Consumer Protection and Financial Enforcement Division. She was assigned to a team that worked on an FBI Health Care Task Force to investigate instances of medical insurance fraud. Before working with DFS, Manns did similar fraud investigation work for the New York City Human Resources Administration Department of Social Services. Over the course of her tenure with DFS, Manns received several accolades for her work in performance reviews.
Despite the glowing praise, however, Manns said that over time colleagues and supervisors referred to her with race and gender slurs, sabotaged her work and called her in to work while she was on sick leave. She was also denied promotions, including possible succession of her supervisor when they retired in 2019.
Following those incidents of discrimination, Manns filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) based on the treatment she endured while at DFS. During the course of the EEOC complaint, Manns was suspended without pay, citing a policy violation. When she was reinstated, she also filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) claiming that the suspension was in retaliation for the prior EEOC complaint. She was again suspended without pay and following the DHR investigation, the arbitrator ruled in favor of DHS. Manns was terminated from DFS as a result.
“I worked with Deidre to get a law firm to pursue the matter in court,” said Josey. “I was able to refer her to a very reputable law firm that handled her case.”
With Josey’s referral and the help of attorneys at Outten and Golden, Manns’ case proceeded through the legal system all the way to the New York State Supreme Court in 2022. A settlement was reached in September 2025 and Manns was awarded $545,000 in back pay, lost wages, pension payments, and other damages.
“This is really historic for New York and any state agency to settle a case for this amount of money,” said Josey. “Unfortunately, Deidre is no longer with DFS as a result, but she is ready to move on from the agency.”
Editor’s Note: If you feel you’ve been discriminated against at work, the first step is to fill out this intake form and PEF staff will follow up to discuss next steps.