I'm currently involved in a situation where I have applied for a position with our local State Board of Elections and been denied based on failing to meet the minimum experience requirements. I did submit a letter of dispute and contacted several House Delegates asking for assistance.

One representative did take the initiative and contact the Office of Budget and Management to investigate my inquiry. Finally on March 26th I contacted the representative to check on the status of the investigation. His office faxed me a letter from the Legislative Liaison for the DB&M which stated that they agreed with the local agency assessment yet they are not involved in the hiring for this position that I do not qualify for this position. Specifically stating "they did not find my application or supporting documentation that I had the required computer programming experience or the technical experience in installing and maintaining hardware and software." When applying for the position I included the state application, my resume and nine (9) letters of recommendation. Below I will list the requirements for the position as well as my educational and experience.

There were some additional inconsistencies involved such as receiving the letter from the State prior to the deadline of the job posting, the letter being undated and unsigned as well as postmarked from the local post office instead from the location of the State office.

At this point I would like recommendations as to what step I should take next, EEOC or ACLU? The governor's office? Legal action?

The minimum educational requirements for the position are: high school or equivalent. The minimum experience requirements are as follows: Two years of experience in computer programming; implementing, troubleshooting or supporting local or wide area networks; installing and troubleshooting personal computers or evaluating, implementing and maintaining microcomputer hardware and software. Noted substitutes include: 1) 18 credit hours in computer IT, programming or networking from accredited college or university may be substituted for up to one year of required experience, 2) Completion of a certification program in computer programming or personal computers, local or wide area networks or troubleshooting such as Microsoft Certified Professional or equivalent program may be substituted for one year of the required experience, 3) Additional experience in computer programming;implementing, troubleshooting or supporting local or wide area networks; installing and troubleshooting personal computers or evaluating, implementing or maintaining personal computer hardware and software may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis.

My background: I possess an Associates of Arts degree in computer programming and am attending a University majoring in CMIS with 59 credit hours. My experience includes: nearly 6 years performing maintenance and troubleshooting of workgroup PCs, printing and network issues on an Exchange server and Microsoft Product inquiries;5 years maintaining Access database and running queries; 5 years generating clinical sign-ons, terminating user accounts with my previous employer; 3 years programming files and developing computer reports, programming statistical data into table outputs utilizing a statistical software package.

I understand that this is a frustrating situation for you. I would suggest that maybe you speak with an attorney to discuss your legal options and what your next step should be. You can locate an attorney through the attorney locator on Lawinfo's home page at http://www.lawinfo.com/. Some do offer free consultations.