Three years after Semehar Ghebredikan began working as community inclusion liaison for the city of Sioux City, on Feb. 21, 2024, city officials placed Ghebredikan, who won a national award this year, on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. It comes after she filed a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination complaint, a U.S. Government Accountability Office complaint alleging fraud in a city housing program and a formal complaint to the city council.
Ghebredikan said some of her colleagues have discriminated against and retaliated against her because she's Black, pregnant and young. She said she isn't allowed to leave her home during the day while she awaits a resolution to the suspension. Ghebredikan has posted on social media about her experience. Here, she discusses what it was like to be a Black woman working in the Sioux City government. Find out what she wants and what she thinks will happen next.
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Black #DEI city employee in Sioux City alleges discrimination, harassment led to her suspension, vows to fight