After a 5-day trial late last year, a federal jury at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida awarded former Homeland Security employee Ulysses Hudson $2.5 million in compensation for his claim that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) retaliated against him after he complained of harassment and discrimination.

According to reports in the Miami Business Herald, Ulysses Hudson, a black Intelligence Research Specialist, originally sued the agency in 2001, claiming racial harassment by managers and co-workers, which took the form of racial comments, putting nails in his tires, and treating him as less than an equal. That conduct caused him depression and anxiety and prompted his doctor to order that he no longer work in the agency's Miami office.

A jury ruled against him in that lawsuit, partly because jurors accepted the agency's position that it accommodated his disabilities, depression, and anxiety by moving him to an office in Fort Lauderdale. According to Hudson, however, the offer of a transfer to Fort Lauderdale was contingent on his dropping the case, which he refused to do, thus taking the claim to court.

After he lost that case, Hudson said, the agency gave him the choice of moving back to the Miami office or be fired. On his doctor's advice, he refused to move back to Miami and was fired. The termination prompted a second lawsuit for retaliation and failure to accommodate his disability, and resulted in the $2.5 million verdict.