Federal Whistleblower Investigator Fired After Blowing The Whistle On His Own Agency
Former OSHA employee says he was fired as ‘retaliation’ for exposing problems in the Whistleblower Protection Program.
A federal whistleblower investigator
who put his career on the line to expose what he calls bureaucratic
dysfunction has been fired, NBC Bay Area has learned.
Darrell Whitman, a former San
Francisco-based investigator for the Whistleblower Protection Program
administered by OSHA, claimed the agency failed to defend workers who
faced retaliation for reporting illegal activity and public safety
concerns.
“They got rid of the squeaky wheel,” Whitman said.
He now views his own termination from OSHA as retaliation for raising red flags about the agency.
“I was going to report what I thought
to be violations of law and policy,” Whitman said. “They were going to
have to answer to those reports and they didn’t like that.”
In an interview with NBC Bay Area earlier this year,
Whitman said he tried to warn OSHA leaders that his managers pressured
investigators to close complaints without proper review to clear a
backlog of cases. He also said his supervisor altered his reports by
changing his conclusions and dismissed cases even when Whitman found
they had merit.
Whitman wrote letters to OSHA leadership and to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez.
“I had gone through every conceivable channel and what I saw was inaction,” Whitman said.
In a Notice of Removal written in
May, OSHA states it fired Whitman for six different reasons including
“lack of candor during an investigatory meeting” and “unauthorized
release of government documents.”
“The real reason was that I appeared on [NBC Bay Area News],” Whitman said.
Whitman is now a complainant before the Office of Special Counsel,
another government agency which protects federal employees from
retaliation for whistleblowing. If he is successful, Whitman’s claim
could result in a settlement with OSHA or include financial
reinstatement.
Tom Devine, the legal director for the Government Accountability Project
based in Washington D.C., is representing Whitman. Over the past three
decades Devine has testified before Congress, helped pass whistleblower
laws and assisted thousands of whistleblowers defend themselves against
retaliation.
A critic of OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program, Devine believes Whitman’s allegations have merit.
“They ring true based on my own
experience and based on complaints of lawyers who investigate
whistleblowers,” Devine said. “Then when we start hearing from people
who are responsible to protect whistleblowers, it really strikes a
chord.”
OSHA declined to comment on
Whitman’s situation because it is an ongoing personnel case. In an
email, OSHA acknowledged problems with the Whistleblower Protection
Program but said the agency is taking steps to improve the program.
Whitman risked, and lost, his job to
expose what he calls OSHA’s failure to protect public health and
safety. He says he hopes his story will lead the government to reform
the Whistleblower Protection Program.
“It may be one of the most important
programs in the federal government because it touches all of our lives
in different ways,” Whitman said.
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