FARGO - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that managers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center here fired a doctor in retaliation for his testimony in a colleague's bias complaint.

The decision, filed this spring, ordered the VA to rehire Dr. Rudranath Talukdar, with full back pay dating to his dismissal in 2002. The ruling, under appeal by the VA, is the latest of several administrative findings of bias and retaliation involving foreign doctors and union representatives at the veterans medical complex in Fargo.

"I'm really disappointed in what's coming out of that center," Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said. "Obviously the evidence suggests that there were some management missteps. There's something in need of repair there."

All of the cases stem from a dispute over a claim of unequal pay for 10 foreign doctors who were allowed in the United States on professional work visas. They filed a complaint in 1999 that resulted in the U.S. Department of Labor ordering the VA to pay the doctors $212,499.

In a separate case, an administrative law judge ruled that Talukdar and Dr. Harjinder Virdee were fired in retaliation for their advocacy on behalf of the foreign doctors. The labor ruling ordered the VA to rehire both doctors, who are now working in private practice, with full back pay and benefits.

Virdee lost her case before the EEOC, but is appealing in federal court.

The National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents 125 doctors and other medical professionals at the Fargo VA medical center, estimates Talukdar is owed $565,000 in back pay and benefits. Altogether, the union estimates the VA's liability in five cases stemming from the pay dispute tops $1.7 million.

The most recent decision by the EEOC agrees with the earlier labor finding that Talukdar's dismissal for budgetary reasons was a pretext for retaliation.

The EEOC ordered center director Douglas Kenyon to take eight hours of equal opportunity training, "with an emphasis on the prohibition against reprisal." The commission also directed the VA to consider taking disciplinary action against "the management officials responsible for discriminatory actions" in Talukdar's case.

Kenyon, through a spokeswoman, declined comment on the EEOC ruling.

The VA is appealing the ruling, said Margaret Wheelden, a spokeswoman at the Fargo VA center. She declined further comment.