Energy department deaf to whistle-blowers, Congress told

By Cat Lazaroff

Washington, DC, May 24, (ENS)— The Department of Energy aided its own contractors in fighting against employees who raised safety concerns at nuclear sites, a group of whistleblowers charged Tuesday.

The employees, backed by Congressional representatives in a hearing before the House Commerce Committee, said the Energy Department’s actions run counter to its stated “zero tolerance” policy regarding retaliation against whistle-blowers.

Federal law makes it illegal for government agencies or their contractors to retaliate against workers who draw attention to unsafe or illegal activities -- commonly known as whistle-blowers.

Two whistle-blowers told the House Commerce Committee oversight and investigations subcommittee that the Department of Energy (DOE) helped nuclear contractors retaliate against them after they raised environmental and safety concerns.

In a case at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, the DOE paid $500,000 in legal and settlement costs for a contractor that fired a crew of pipefitters who complained about safety and pollution issues.

Randall Walli was the crew’s foreman. “We had some issues that came up over some testing of some new pipe systems that were being put in,” Walli testified. “And subsequently we were terminated. The whole crew that worked for me was terminated.”

Walli said the crew tried a number of strategies to get their concerns heard, and their jobs reinstated. The pipefitters hired lawyers, and appealed to the Hanford Joint Council, an agency set up to resolve worker issues at the Hanford Site.

Their former employer, Fluor Hanford, Inc., refused to meet with the Joint Council, Walli said. After the Department of Labor ruled in favor of the whistle-blowers, the company appealed and agreed to take the workers back. Once they had been rehired, the company sued the pipefitting crew over a complaint they had filed with the union, and refused to pay an agreed settlement, saying the crew had breached the settlement terms. A federal district court ruled in the workers’ favor, and ordered an expanded financial settlement.

The DOE paid both settlements, and the contractor’s legal fees, to the tune of $42,000 for each of the eight workers plus their legal costs and fees.

“When a contractor knows the Department is on its side, financially and otherwise, the contractor is encouraged to continue to retaliate against all whistleblowers,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Representative Tom Bliley, a Virginia Republican. “When employees find out that DOE will work overtime to fight whistleblowers and protect its contractors, the message becomes clear: If you identify safety violations, you will be punished.”

In fact, the contractor has since laid off the pipefitting crew again, and been ordered to reinstate them — again.

“We stood up for some safety concerns, numerous different safety issues, to try to help keep people from getting hurt,” said Walli. “We’ve got proof that DOE counsel is helping the company counsel fight us on our own lawsuits. That means that you people sitting there, your tax dollars are going to the government to help fight ourselves. My own tax dollars, I’m fighting myself. You know, this shouldn’t be.”

Whistle-blowers are required to pay their own costs if they file an administrative or legal claim against a company. Walli and his crew had to lay out the costs of fighting the DOE’s contractor, although they were eventually awarded all of these costs in court settlements.

A whistle-blower at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has not been as lucky. Joe Gutierrez said he has spent about $50,000 to challenge an unfavorable job evaluation he said he received after saying that the lab was violating the Clean Air Act.

The Labor Department says the University of California, which runs Los Alamos and two other nuclear labs, retaliated improperly against Gutierrez, but the case has not been settled.

Tom Carpenter, director of the Seattle, Washington office of the Government Accountability Project, lays the blame squarely on the DOE. Carpenter’s group provides non-profit legal counseling and support for whistle-blowers and works to assure that their concerns are addressed by the appropriate federal agencies. Since 1985, Carpenter has overseen the activities of DOE nuclear weapons production facilities.

“The ability of employees to raise concerns is the key to safe and efficient operations, especially in nuclear facilities,” said Carpenter. “The Department of Energy has, for seven years, recognized this important concept but has not taken the necessary steps to change the culture to make the policy shift more than a rhetorical chimera. In fact, in total contradiction of its oft-cited “zero tolerance for reprisal” policy, the Department has assisted its contractors in every possible way to fight whistle-blowers, even when they prevail in court.”

“The Department has yet to take a single action against a single contractor or individual who has been found guilty of reprisal,” charged Carpenter. He urged Congress to reform or disband the DOE.

“Congress needs to get serious about reforming, or getting rid of, this agency. The General Accounting Office has pointed out for nearly 20 years in numerous reports that the Department is seemingly incapable of managing itself, much less its contractors or the massive cleanup job that lies ahead,” said Carpenter. “Protecting employees who speak about illegality, threats to public health and safety, mismanagement and fraud deserve protection and encouragement. Congress can do its part by beefing up protections for these workers.”