A scientist suing the prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories for wrongful termination wants the federal district court case put on hold while he tries to move the suit back to a New Mexico state court.
Plaintiff Charles Oakes on Monday filed an unopposed motion to postpone further briefs on a motion to dismiss by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honeywell, that runs the labs in New Mexico. First, Oakes wants to address if the matter belongs in state court or before the U.S. District Court for New Mexico.
Oakes was hired in June 2017 as a limited-term employee in Carlsbad, N.M., to provide expert scientific data to Sandia on transuranic waste disposal at DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M.
Subsequently Oakes started to complain to NTESS bosses about what he calls deeply-flawed WIPP data being submitted by colleagues to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Oates was ultimately fired in January 2019 in what he said was retaliation for standing up for accurate data. Honeywell said in its filing the scientist was terminated after “multiple inappropriate interactions with colleagues.”
Before the merits are decided, Oakes said the venue issue should be settled.
“In the interest of judicial economy and minimizing the litigation costs for all parties, plaintiff requests that the Court stay briefing on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss until the Court can decide the forthcoming Motion to Remand,” according to the motion filed Monday by Oakes attorney.
In its motion to dismiss in April, the contractor argued Sandia is part of a federal property or federal enclave, not subject to state claims alleged in Oakes initial suit. In the motion to remand Oakes will argue the wrongful activity “did not take place on a federal enclave, therefore depriving this court of jurisdiction and requiring a remand to state court.”
Oakes filed his case in state court in January.
