USDOL Finds LLNL Retaliates Against Whistleblower

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fyi.  [http://www.whistleblower.org/www/Lappapr.htm]

Glenn
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PRESS RELEASE

Immediate Release 
7/1/98 

For More Information 
Tom Carpenter (206) 292-2850 

U.S. Labor Dept. Finds Lawrence Livermore National Lab 
Retaliates Against Whistleblower 

Livermore, Calif.--An investigative report released on June 29, 1998, by the
Department of Labor found that managers at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, a weapons research and design facility, illegally retaliated
against an employee who raised concerns about safety at the Lab's Plutonium
Facility. Federal law prohibits reprisals against whistleblowers at nuclear
facilities.

The report states that the "weight of evidence" indicates that Lab managers
made various reprisals against David Lappa, a nuclear engineer at the lab, for
raising safety concerns about the lab's handling of plutonium. This
investigation is the Labor Department's first at the Livermore Lab and its
findings will put the Department of Energy's new "zero tolerance" safety
initiative to the test. The safety initiative, announced in April 1998 by
outgoing Energy Secretary Federico Peņa, outlines the DOE's "zero tolerance"
for serious injury and its commitment to creating a work environment that
allows free and open expression of safety concerns where workers fear no
reprisals or retaliation.

"The DOE has an extremely poor track record when it comes to initiating and
carrying out policies designed to protect the interests of whistleblowers,"
said Tom Carpenter, Director of the Government Accountability Project's West
Coast office, "and this case will show if the DOE is finally serious about
cleaning up its act." The Government Accountability Project, a non-profit
organization committed to the protection of whistleblowers, is currently
representing David Lappa.

Concerns about the DOE's treatment of whistleblowers were given additional
credibility when former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary recently testified in a
deposition that, during the early to mid 1990s, there had been an "agency
wide" pattern of reprisals against "individuals who made themselves heard and
didn't follow the so-called party line."

Lappa, who has worked at the lab for nineteen years, last summer served on an
internal committee investigating criticality safety problems at the lab's
Plutonium Facility. The committee uncovered evidence that workers engaged in
plutonium processing willfully breached criticality safety rules that help
prevent a criticality accident, an intense burst of radiation often lethal to
nearby workers. Lappa refused to endorse the committee's report because it did
not adequately address the evidence of possible willful safety violations.
Willful safety violations are regarded as especially serious by the DOE's
Office of Inspection and Enforcement, which can issue notices of violation
against Lawrence Livermore under the Price-Anderson Amendments Act. Earlier
this year, DOE hit Livermore Lab with the largest penalty in the history of
Price-Anderson enforcement.

Since his refusal to sign the report, Lappa has been subjected to coercion,
intimidation, discrimination, and retaliation at the Lab: He was immediately
given negative job performance feedback; had his expected pay raise reduced;
was denied a transfer; was advised by his direct supervisor that senior
management was working to have him fired; was moved to a windowless office
formerly used as a storage closet; and, after months of unsuccessful job
searching, was placed in a non-technical assignment with no prospects for
advancement.

In order to remedy the violation, the Labor Dept. report states that Lawrence
Livermore must: protect David Lappa from future reprisals at the lab,
eliminate all negative references found in Lappa 's personnel files dated from
June 1, 1997, to the resolution of his complaint, make good faith efforts to
provide Lappa with a transfer or placement assistance if he seeks a job
outside the lab, provide Lappa with a paid leave of absence, and provide
compensation for counseling costs, damages, attorney fees, and incidental
expenses connected with Lappa's complaint.

The Lab is entitled to appeal the findings of the Labor Department and to
request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge appointed by Labor. An
on-the-record evidentiary hearing will take place in several months following
the appeal.