Employee unions and watchdogs such as the Project on Government
Oversight and the Government Accountability Project have
called for an investigation into the mandatory relocation
of 20 percent of the Office of Special Counsel’s
investigative and legal staff to field offices in the
Midwest.
According to POGO, a protest letter filed by three
whistleblower protection groups — OSC is a primary protector
for whistleblower and merit systems rights — alleges that
the relocations are part of an effort to “purge” the OSC
of dissent and replace it with “hand picked loyalists,”
citing that all those being relocated are careerists hired
before the arrival of Special Counsel Scott Bloch.
The letter — delivered to the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee – says those selected for
transfer had questioned OSC management strategy or practices
made by Bloch, according the American Federation of
Government Employees.
AFGE General Counsel Mark Roth said, “The word ‘ironic’
doesn’t even begin to describe this situation, in which
federal employees entrusted with protecting other federal
workers from retaliation for whistle-blowing find themselves
suffering apparent retaliation for raising red flags on
management problems.”
POGO said the OSC employees, all part of the whistleblower
protection unit, were given 10 days to decide if they would
accept transfer from Washington D.C. to Dallas, Oakland,
or Detriot, or leave federal service.
An OSC press release dated Jan. 7, says a “decision was
made to enhance field operations and power down from a
D.C.-centric based operation,” but only following
“extensive discussions with staff and an outside assessment
team’s review of the agency structure and organization.”
OSC said bolstering the three Midwest field offices would
“foster healthy competition and flexibility among more
efficient units,” something needed to keep the backlog
of cases down.
The National Treasury Employees Union warned, “the
so-called reorganization under which the transfers are
being ordered would, for the first time, have the OSC
unit responsible for dealing with enforcement of the
Hatch Act reporting to a political appointee rather t
han a career senior executive.”
