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

Babbitt agreed that the FAA mishandled Adams' case, and said that the FAA would establish a new office where agency employees could raise concerns without fear of being fired. "When someone raises a question and they have to ‘blow a whistle’ to get the information to us, we’ve already had a breakdown, we’ve already had a slip in the system," Babbitt said.

While Babbitt's recognition of the agency's misstep is a welcome development, Babbitt's statement does not yet reflect a fully reformed safety-conscious commitment. Offices already exist where federal employees can raise safety concerns with legal protection against retaliation.  These include the Department of Transportation's Inspector General, the Office of Special Counsel, and every member of Congress. Indeed, every office of the FAA, and of every other government safety agency, should be such an office.  The problem is not the lack of a whistleblower office, but rather lack of leadership to use existing offices to put safety first.  Any act of retaliation against a whistleblower is a betrayal of the FAA's basic mission to put safety first.

"I was really waiting for him to take it one step further and say, ‘We will hold the managers accountable,’ but it was still excellent to hear the administrator," Adams told NJ.com. Adams had worked for the FAA for 19 years, and at Newark Airport for eight years. He got it right when he sees management recognize a problem, but balk at the idea of disciplining abusive managers. If managers were as afraid of discipline for their abuse of power over their subordinates as they are of discipline for failing to meet objectives for the volume of traffic, then all employees would see that management really wants them to put safety first.

Sen. Lautenberg could help the air traffic controllers in his home state by calling on his fellow senators to dump the Senate's hurdle-filled version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), S. 372, and approve the House's version, HR 1507.  The House version would guarantee that all federal employees could get jury trials when management retaliates against them for whistleblowing. Maybe then it won't take two years for the FAA to implement a Converging Runway Display Aid to address the issue Adams raised.

 Mark Van had worked as the Portneuf Medical Center since 1986 in helicopter maintenance.  After a 2001 crash, Van became more concerned about complying with state and federal safety standards.  The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the 2001 crash was a result of pilot error, and Van raised concerns about pilots working more hours than allowed.  He also raised concerns about loopholes in a maintenance contract with a helicopter vendor. In 2005, the medical center fired Van, citing his, “his inability to maintain positive interpersonal relations with his colleagues and to foster a positive team environment.” 

The Idaho Supreme Court made clear that the state’s Whistleblower Act, I.C. § 6-2105(4), protects employees for raising protected concerns reguardless of whether or how an employer addresses the substantive violation.  Slip opinion, page 7.  The Court also held, however, that raising a concern about a possible future waste of funds is not protected under Idaho law.  The Court also affirmed dismissals of Van’s claims for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing,  Finally, the Court upheld a decision denying Van discovery of the vendor’s proposed contract as Van’s concern about that contract was not protected.

It will be interesting to follow what the medical center says about why it thought Van could not maintain a positive interpersonal relationship with the other staff.  Could it be that it was because Van was blowing the whistle on their failure to put safety first?  It would be good for courts to recognize that an employer claim that a whistleblower cannot get along with others reflects a stereotype of whistleblowers and is direct evidence of animus against their protected activity.

Other aviation whistleblowers may want to consider filing complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor under the AIR 21 law.  The time limit to file written complaints with OSHA is 90 days.