Legal and whistleblower experts say the Department of Homeland Security violated federal law when it put more than 30 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees on leave last week after they signed an open letter of dissent about agency leadership. In a new letter obtained by The Washington Post, the Government Accountability Project is calling on federal lawmakers and oversight agencies to investigate what it calls “illegal retaliation.”
The nonprofit group sent a letter on Tuesday to members of the House and Senate subcommittees on homeland security, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and DHS’s Office of Inspector General, arguing the department’s actions “blatantly violate the federal laws protecting whistleblowers.”
The group asked federal lawmakers to fully reinstate each person to allow them to get back to their jobs — work that in some cases includes helping disaster survivors.
“Retaliation against them is not just illegal, it’s a direct assault on the democratic principles that protect public servants who expose threats to public safety,” Traci Feit Love, founder and executive director of Lawyers for Good Government, said in a statement.
Officials from DHS and FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
Victoria’s Essential Services Commission (ESC), the state’s main regulator, says it has suspended another business from the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program after alleged false claims. The ...