The settlement calls on the Army to clear the employee’s record and reassign her. Image: djmilic/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe Office of Special Counsel has announced a settlement in a whistleblower retaliation case it brought against an Army laboratory including a payment of $555,000 in compensatory damages for emotional, physical, and reputational harm, which it said is “one of the largest sums in damages OSC has obtained on behalf of a complainant.”
The settlement also calls on the Army—which in the process did not admit wrongdoing—to clear the employee’s record, reassign her to a new position, restore leave and lost retention compensation, and pay attorneys’ fees, it said.
The announcement says that after the employee raised concerns to the DoD inspector general office about “deficient Army inspections of biosafety laboratories containing dangerous biological agents and toxins and a laboratory head who discouraged employees from reporting mishaps,” the Army took retaliatory actions including reassigning her from her leadership position, initiating a retaliatory investigation, proposing her removal, and suspending her clinical privileges.
The OSC said it filed a complaint with MSPB after the Army declined to take the corrective action OSC recommended after its investigation. The MSPB granted default judgment against the Army for failure to reply timely, and negotiations involving an MSPB mediator led to the settlement, it said.
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