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

Beth Daley was a champion for environmental whistleblowers, and a passionate advocate for government oversight.  She is particularly remembered for her work holding oil companies accountable for their environmental compliance and honesty in government contracts. As a strategist for whistleblower legislation and media work, she was a worthy colleague in the coalition that seeks to make life better for whistleblowers. Beth worked for the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) for over a decade.

It is with sadness that we report Beth's untimely passing yesterday, after years of battling breast cancer.  Our hearts go out to Beth's husband and two young children, and to all our friends at POGO. They experience most sharply a loss that we all feel.

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My client Dr. David Lewis has written a story about his experience blowing the whistle at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is called, "EPA Fired Oil-Degradation Expert Concerned about Deepwater Oil Rigs: The Iron Horse of Science." It appears in the current issue of the monthly Pennsylvania publication The Order of the Earth. Click on September issue, and then go to page 7.

In 1998, the EPA transferred David to the University of Georgia in part to research how we might better respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. The politics that ensued show why we need leadership from the top to remove politics from science.

David's story will have particular appeal to alumni of the University of Georgia.

Photo by Walter Montgomery.

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The Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board (ARB) has released eleven (11) decisions issued in July, four (4) of which address substantive law.  That is down from seven (7) substantive decisions issued in July 2009. At this rate, it will be difficult for the ARB to bring its backlog down below two years anytime soon.

In Vinnett v. Mitsubishi Power Systems, ARB No. 08-104, ALJ No. 2006-ERA-29 (ARB July 27, 2010), the ARB made clear that employees are protected when they perform their safety responsibilities too well. The ARB cited long-standing DOL precedent in holding that protected activity is still protected, even if it is part of the employee's normal job duties. William Vinnett began working for Mitsubishi Power Systems (MPS) in 2004 as a field project engineer. MPS assigned him to assess equipment vibrations at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan. Vinnett reported a variety of concerns about technical errors, procedural violations and damage to a pressurized vessel.  He had to pester his supervisor to discuss these concerns. When he finally got his meeting, he received a warning letter about his performance. When he asked for another meeting a month later, he was fired.“The [Secretary’s] ruling simply forbids discrimination based on competent and aggressive inspection work. In other words, contractors regulated by [the ERA] may not discharge quality control inspectors because they do their jobs too well.”

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