March 17, 2014

SENATORS QUESTION LAYOFF OF FORMER WTP EXEC. WHO RAISED SAFETY CONCERNS

By ExchangeMonitor

Two senators expressed concern yesterday over URS’ recent decision to lay off Walter Tamosaitis, a former contractor executive at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant who has alleged he has faced retaliation for raising safety concerns. In a letter to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) warned that the move to lay off Tamosaitis could lead to other workers across the DOE complex being afraid to raise safety issues. “It is hard to see how his termination could do anything but discourage employees at Hanford and throughout complex from coming forward with health or safety concerns. If these actions against Dr. Tamosaitis are allowed to stand, it will be a very cold day indeed before employees at Hanford and across the Department feel free to come forward with health or safety concerns,” Wyden wrote to Moniz.

In a separate letter to Moniz, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) went even further and called on the Department to intervene in the matter. “I write to urge you in the strongest possible terms to quickly investigate and take all necessary action to remedy” Tamosaitis’ termination, Markey wrote, going on to state, “Simply put, if you do not take immediate action to halt URS’s retaliatory dismissal of Dr. Tamosaitis and ongoing retaliatory acts against other employees … who have raised safety concerns, your efforts to improve the Department’s safety culture will lack all credibility. Please do what is necessary, and what is right, to protect a truly heroic individual.”

Tamosaitis was removed from his position as WTP research and technology manager three years ago. While Tamosaitis has alleged he was removed for raising safety concerns, both WTP project contractor Bechtel National and URS, a subcontractor on the project, have denied such claims. After Tamosaitis was removed from the WTP, he continued to work for URS until he was laid off last week. URS has declined to comment specifically on Tamosaitis’ layoff, but did say in a statement that it has in recent months “reduced employment levels in our federal sector business due to budgetary constraints.” DOE did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

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