DOE Silent on Potential Actions Against Contractor
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
9/19/2014
Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is challenging a preliminary order from the Department of Labor to reinstate a former employee who has charged she was terminated for raising concerns. Late this week, close to the end of a 30-day deadline, WRPS asked for an administrative law judge to review DOL’s preliminary order that Shelly Doss, a former environmental specialist, be reinstated to her position with back pay and compensatory damages. WRPS confirmed that it has asked for the administrative law judge review, but declined to provide further comment late this week.
Doss worked at Hanford from 1988 until the fall of 2011, when she was let go by WRPS. While the contractor said Doss was laid off as part of a workforce restructuring prompted by changing work scope and funding, Doss charged that she her job lost in retaliation for reporting permit violations, recordkeeping errors, and lack of adherence to regulations. In its preliminary order, issued in August, the Labor Department agreed with Doss that she was terminated as an act of retaliation. “There is reasonable cause to believe that Complainant’s protected activities were a motivating and contributing factor in the adverse actions taken against her,” the order said.
In its preliminary order, DOL directed WRPS to reinstate Doss with the same pay and benefits she would be receiving had she not been terminated. The Department also directed WRPS to provide Doss with back pay beginning in October 2011 based on her hourly wage of $38.43, as well as compensatory damages of $20,000 for emotional distress, $4,381.32 for out-of-pocket expenses and damages of $10,000 “for the callous disregard of the Complainant’s protected rights.” Since the order was issued, WRPS has not moved to reinstate Doss, and now that the contractor has asked for an administrative law judge review, the preliminary order will be suspended. During the review, both WRPS and Doss will present their cases to the judge. The schedule for the completion of the review is unclear.
Lead Contractor in WRPS Subject of Other Retaliation Allegations at Hanford
Notably, URS, the lead contractor in WRPS, has been the subject of multiple allegations of retaliating against employees who have raised safety or technical concerns at Hanford. In 2010, Walter Tamosaitis, a URS employee who served as manager of research and technology at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, charged he was removed from working on the project after raising safety concerns. Tamosaitis was later laid off altogether by URS last fall. Early this year, URS terminated Donna Busche, who held the position of WTP Environmental and Nuclear Safety Manager and who also has charged she faced retaliation and harassment for raising concerns. Both Tamosaitis and Busche also have whistleblower complaints pending with the Department of Labor. URS, though, has repeatedly denied Tamosaitis’ and Busche’s allegations.
DOE Says It Will ‘Continue to Follow This Matter’
In recent years, the Department of Energy has placed an increased emphasis across the complex on the topic of safety culture and whether workers feel comfortable raising safety or technical concerns. Last fall, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman went so far as to issue a memo stressing their “personal commitment” to ensuring a strong safety culture throughout the Department. “Federal, laboratory, and contractor workers have the right to identify and raise issues that affect their safety and health or that of their co-workers openly, and without fear of reprisal. We must not deter, discourage, or penalize employees for the timely identification of safety, health, environmental, quality or security issues, the reporting of illnesses or injuries, or the use of Employee Concerns or Differing Professional Opinion Programs,” Moniz and Poneman wrote.
In the wake of another federal agency finding that one of DOE’s contractors had engaged in retaliation against an employee that raised concerns, it remains to be seen what action DOE will take in response. When asked if DOE was considering taking action against WRPS, such as through a fee reduction, a DOE spokesperson said late this week, “The Department was notified that WRPS has objected to the Department of Labor’s Preliminary Order and has requested a hearing in this matter. The Department will continue to follow this matter in the DOL process closely.”
‘War on Whistleblowers’ Continues at Hanford, Watchdog Group Charges
DOE’s stance, though, prompted strong criticism this week from Tom Carpenter, executive director of the watchdog group Hanford Challenge and an attorney for Doss. “DOE continues to declare zero-tolerance against reprisal against whistleblowers, but where’s the action to back those words? A sister agency, the Labor Department, conducted a three-year, comprehensive investigation and issued one of the strongest decisions in its history, but DOE has [not] said a word. As usual,” Carpenter said in a written response.
Carpenter also criticized WRPS’ decision to appeal the Department of Labor’s order regarding Doss. “At issue here is not only the fate of Shelly Doss, but the ongoing war on whistleblowers at Hanford being waged by Hanford contractors, and countenanced by DOE,” Carpenter said. “Further delay in this case in getting Ms. Doss back to work, after three years of waiting for OSHA to issue a decision, is a further injustice to Ms. Doss and a doubling-down on the messaging to the work-force at Hanford. That message is, ‘Don’t report safety violations, or you might lose your career.’ In light of other recent and highly-publicized firings of Donna Busche and Dr. Walt Tamosaitis, workers at Hanford certainly are getting that message.”
