Whistleblower Protection Blog : Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

Even federal agencies use independent contractors and skirt the protections provided to "employees." This month, a federal judge in Washington, DC, held that a former translator can sue the Voice of America officials who terminated her contract after she made an anti-war music video. Using the authority of Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle has ordered that Melodi Navab-Safavi can proceed with her lawsuit against the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and its officials.  Judge Huvelle noted that Navab-Safavi made the video on her own time, without using any government resources.“[T]he law is settled that as a general matter the First Amendment prohibits government officials from subjecting an individual to retaliatory actions . . . for speaking out.”

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Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and other politicians have called on the administration to review the cases of Robert MacLean and Spencer Pickard, according to a story in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal. Both MacLean and Pickard were fired by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after going public about shortcomings in TSA's security plans.  Robert MacLean  criticized TSA for grounding all the air marshals, nationwide, during a security alert, to meet a budget goal.  Spencer Pickard criticized TSA for requiring air marshals to meet wardrobe requirements that made them stick out like sore thumbs.  Both cases well demonstrate why we cannot rely on administrative procedures where all the decision makers are appointed by the administration that is being criticized.  Both cases show how public safety will be enhanced if Congress passes the House version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), HR 1507, and allows jury trials for federal employee whistleblowers.

The Review-Journal article notes how the new administration promised last June that it would review whistleblower cases from the prior administration.  We are still waiting for the outcome of that review.

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Last Wednesday, Robert Mueller, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing.  Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) used the opportunity to question Dir. Mueller about how the administration's proposed whistleblower bill (S. 372) came to propose the repeal of the protection for FBI employees (5 USC 2303).  Dir. Mueller testified that he did not recall what that section of law said off hand, but promised to get back to Sen. Grassley about that. The Director also promised to check whether any FBI employees were involved in making the proposal to repeal 5 USC 2303.  You can read about the exchange in The Washington Times. The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) has now posted a transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing, and of Sen. Grassley's press conference where he says he will place a hold on all Justice Department nominations until his questions are answered.

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On the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley has issued a call to action for the White House and Congress to pass effective legislation protecting national security whistleblowers.  Ms. Rowley is urging all Americans to put pressure on their Senators and Congressmen to immediately enact whistleblower protections for national security employees, whose whistleblowing actions are often vital to the safety and security of our citizens.

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