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Radsafe Folks --
I would like for you all to know that I have won my
DOE whistleblower case. The initial verdict (in December) went against me, but
this was reversed on appeal this past week.
The appeals decision stated that the first judge's
decision was "clearly erroneous". The appeals decision supported my allegations
that I was laid off from Oak Ridge National Laboratory because of my disclosures
about rad protection problems. You can read this decision on DOE's Office of
Hearings and Appeals Web site. I am entitled to ask the judge to award back pay,
front pay, lawyer's fees, etc., and reinstatement. The contractor (UT-Battelle)
has 30 days in which to appeal in its turn.
This is a big win, but the basic problem DOE has is
still there. That is, in handling reports of safety problems, DOE does not have
what I think is a coherent and effective method of investigating the whole
situation. DOE separates the allegations of safety deficiencies from the
allegations of retaliation.
First, DOE handles the evaluations of the
safety deficiencies itself; the whistleblower has nothing to say about this and
is informed only regarding the outcome, if at all. In particular, the
whistleblower is not asked to comment on the adequacy of any proposed corrective
actions. I am not aware of any such actions for ORNL. My impression is that DOE
completely let ORNL off the hook, without investigating any individual
instance I reported. They also ignored the adverse trends that I
reported.
Second, DOE handles the allegations of retaliation
in a "Let's you and him fight" manner. That is, DOE -- although it may have been
complicit in the retaliation as I think it was in my case by their field
people's refusal to act on my early disclosures to them -- becomes the
"neutral" judge of the case, which the whistleblower has to pursue at the
whistleblower's own expense. After the initial screening process, DOE does no
investigation on its own -- if the whistleblower can't figure out a way to
unearth the smoking gun, so to speak, well, tough.
As I have told you before, I am writing a book on
my experience and my recommendations about how things could be improved.
I will post it on the Web when I am done. If any of you have been
whistleblowers or have known one and you would like to tell me about it as
background for my book, please drop me a line.
I would like to repeat my thanks to all who sent me
notes of encouragement and support during all these months. It meant a lot to me
to feel that I was still connected to the "rad world".
Janet Westbrook
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