One case involved disclosure of failure to follow asbestos mitigation during several large-scale demolitions. Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
The Office of Special Counsel has said it has achieved positive results in two whistleblower-based cases, resulting in a reinstatement with back pay in one and safety improvements at an Army facility in the other.
In the first, the OSC reached a settlement in a case it brought before the MSPB alleging that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services retaliated against an employee for disclosing that an official had divulged confidential identifying information about employees who had filed agency grievances.
It said the agency investigated and later fired the employee after he informed managers that during his employee orientation “an agency official improperly shared with him and another new hire the names of employees who had filed complaints against the agency, calling one such employee ‘crazy.’”
The employee was reinstated with back pay, attorney’s fees and was awarded $325,000 in compensatory damages, and also will be retroactively promoted to resolve a more recent claim that USCIS rescinded his job offer for a higher-level position because of his litigation against the agency, said the OSC.
The other case involved a disclosure to the OSC that officials at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland “failed to complete required asbestos mitigation procedures during several large-scale demolitions, placing employees, contract employees, and the public in danger of potential exposure to hazardous material,” it said.
It said that the report of an investigation by the Army after the OSC referred the matter there confirmed that officials “repeatedly failed to perform proper asbestos mitigation. The report outlines ten instances of the failure to mitigate asbestos exposure and maintain necessary records. In one case, during the demolition of a building at the facility, asbestos containing material was dropped to the ground and left unsecured and uncontrolled for nine months before finally being removed,” it said.
“The report made several recommendations to improve asbestos mitigation at the facility, including an independent audit; a comprehensive asbestos inventory of all APG buildings and facilities; maintenance of asbestos records in a centralized location; and HAZMAT training for the workforce and facility owners,” it said.
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