Help Former LT. Cdr. Jennifer Pralgo fight NOAA

Trying to get the word out about sexual discrimination in the Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Officer Corps.. Over the last few years we have been fighting a losing battle with one of the departments of the Federal Government. I thought you would like to hear my wife’s story so you can be aware of our situation and the issue of sexual discrimination in The Department of Commerce, NOAA Officer Corps. I am speaking of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations’ Officer Corps. of which my wife was a Commissioned Officer until March of 2018. My wife had spent 17 years of her life as an Officer in NOAA, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander (04). For the first 14 years of her career, her performance had been exemplary, her OER’s had reflected her leadership skills, her dedication, and her competence, she had never been passed over for any promotion, nor refused a requested assignment. She was one of only four women in her class who graduated from SUNY Maritime Academy in New York she earned a triple Bachelors in Meteorology, Oceanography, and Environmental Science and went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Management and Leadership from Strayer University. Her distinguished career earned her many accolades, accommodations, and Service Medals. She was visited by, introduced to, and lauded by two previously sitting U.S. Presidents, she was guest speaker at her Alma Mater, U.S. High Schools, and a prestigious Women-At-Sea conference. At NOAA functions, we sat with the Admirals, ate with the Admirals, and traded friendly banter with the Admirals; one admiral offered to come to my house and help me lay tile in our kitchen. Jenn was the youngest female NOAA Corps. Officer ever to accomplish an Executive Officer Tour, she was the first Female Officer to pass her Standing Watch Officer (SWO) Test on her first try, when her male Commanding Officer walked off of the ship during a port stop, it was Jenn who was given command by CDC, when one of NOAA’s male Officers committed sexual discrimination on a ship in the Bahamas, it was Jenn they sent to relieve him of his Executive Officer position and to ensure the vessel made it back to home port safely. She mentored younger, female officers, educating them about proper etiquette, protocol, and how to survive in NOAA’s harsh, masculine, competitive environment. 

Then she got pregnant in the middle of a sea tour…

 This was when she discovered how petty, mean, and discriminatory the Corps. could be. Against her doctor’s assurances and her own protestations, NOAA forcibly pulled her from her ship, stripped her of her duties, and gave her a fabricated, meaningless, and menial land assignment. The C.O. of her vessel refused her request for a conference, he neglected to answer her phone calls, and did not return her emails. The male officer they sent to relieve her of her duty told her in a closed-door meeting, that her career was over and chided her for putting “her needs above the needs of the Corps.” At that time he gave her her then-current OER, which was still as exemplary as ever in her marks, but the last line held the career-killing statement from her C.O.: “I do not recommend that Lieutenant Commander Pralgo be given command of her own vessel.” Later OER’s showed similar derogatory remarks like: “I do not recommend that Lieutenant Commander Pralgo be promoted with her peers.” On future land assignments, Jenn was placed under the command of an Admiral-Select Captain who, while female, had a reputation for disliking subordinate female officers; it was this Captain who also told her that her “career was over” due to getting pregnant and that she should have “waited until she was on land assignment to get pregnant.” Jenn recruited a male Captain to act as her mentor trying to get her career back on track, he told her that her only chance of “redeeming herself” was to get a C.O. Sea Tour,  he also explained to her that according to the Sea Tour regulations with NOAA, it is almost impossible for a higher-ranking female officer to get a sea tour after they have had a baby during a sea tour because there is no provision to allow them to get their SWO back, even if they wanted to. This particular Captain was on the promotion board and told her that he would try to help her get a sea tour, but she was repeatedly denied, or worse, her request was ignored and unanswered. When she got passed over for promotion the first time, he told her not to worry, NOAA was just “slapping her on the wrist” for getting pregnant during a sea tour; when she got passed over a second time a year later and her career was at an end, he said, “Well I guess they weren’t through slapping you on the wrist.” She tried desperately to get a “Second Look,” she filed a grievance, she pleaded with her Command, but to no avail, she was denied a Sea Tour, she was denied a C.O. Tour, and six months later she was sent packing, leaving our family of five to survive on my income alone. She had served a total of 17 years and 1 month; ironically, but not coincidentally, had she made 18 years, they could not have kicked her out and she could have retired. Out with her NOAA career went her salary, her housing allowance, our whole family’s medical coverage, and her pension she had worked her whole life for. Since she was kicked out of NOAA, she has applied for, and been refused numerous Federal jobs, she has been unable to locate a civilian job that matches her career skills, and she has been working temporary, contractual jobs for part of the last year; she was completely without income for over six months of last year due to the scarcity of jobs. Due to NOAA Corps.’ odd placement among he Uniformed Services, she has been denied both “Military Service” and “Federal Employee” statuses and Federal preferences (that one lies squarely on the heads of Congress). Even though she served during war time, she is denied veterans’ benefits.

 We have spent the last year and most of her severance pay to hire legal representation to try and salvage her career and her dignity. For over nine months last year NOAA completely ignored her legal requests for discourse, correspondence or mediation. It was not until we filed a lawsuit that NOAA reacted and even then, to my understanding, they did not even assign a lawyer to the case until one week before the hearing. NOAA had to be censured by the Judge for inaction before they began to take Jenn seriously. Jenn has asked for reinstatement (a common award for EEO complaints) so she may finish out her military career; a request which they have vehemently denied, first saying is wasn’t in their power, and then backpedaling once it was pointed out to them in their own Rules and Regulations that it was in their power and was actually highly precedented. Currently, they have refused almost every offer we have made and have continually circumvented the legal, honest and ethical protocol pertaining to a case like this. They have made a "last and final offer" that will, after taxes, barely cover legal costs, much less give her anything to put away for retirement. We are really on our last leg here, we are out of money and out of time. Jenn has lost a lot of faith in the system, NOAA, and the Federal Government in general. She would just like to get the respect she deserves as a female Officer who served her country faithfully and to be able to one day retire. 

 Please help Jenn, if you can, we have two small girls who we tell every day that they can be whatever they want to be; we don’t want them to see that justice and equality may be the things they can’t get no matter how hard they try.