Several employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have filed whistleblower complaints after being put on administrative leave shortly after signing a public letter of dissent last week.
“I believe this is retaliatory behavior and is meant to silence and intimidate me and the rest of my coworkers,” James Stroud, a statistician with FEMA, and among those who signed the letter and was subsequently placed on leave, told Newsweek.
“I won’t be silenced and I will continue to fight for what’s right.”
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA for comment via email.
Why It Matters
More than 190 current and former employees of FEMA signed the letter, titled the Katrina Declaration, criticizing cuts to the agency and warning that the agency risks a catastrophe like the one seen after Hurricane Katrina.
Thirty-five signed their names publicly, but the majority remained anonymous for fear of retribution. A day later, the Trump administration put many of the employees who signed their names on the letter on indefinite administrative leave.
Notices that informed employees about the decision said it “is not a disciplinary action and is not intended to be punitive.”
However, attorneys representing the employees say the action was retaliatory and a violation of federal whistleblower protection laws.
What To Know
In a complaint filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on Stroud’s behalf, which Newsweek reviewed, attorney Eric Pines wrote the actions “have been taken in retaliation because [Stroud] publicly disclosed the gross mismanagement, violation of laws, and censorship of scientific research that have been occurring at FEMA.”
The proximity of Stroud’s “public support of this letter and being placed on administrative leave is too coincidental for it to not be directly related to publicly signing the letter,” Pines added.
Pines told Newsweek that he believes the agency placed the employees on leave in violation of the Whistleblower Protection and Enhancement Act.
“That law says if somebody reports fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement to someone in management or to someone in the media, which is what happened here, then an action is taken against them that harms their work environment and you can prove a nexus between the two, then that’s a whistleblower complaint,” Pines said.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that these people spoke up about mismanagement, and they spoke up about waste and other things, that clearly fall into the whistleblower [law].”
Stroud’s complaint comes after the Government Accountability Project on Tuesday said it had, in partnership with the nonprofits Lawyers for Good Government and Stand Up for Science, filed complaints on behalf of FEMA employees who wish to remain anonymous.
In a letter to the OSC, DHS’s Office of Inspector General and members of the House and Senate subcommittees on Homeland Security, attorneys for the groups argued the administration’s actions “blatantly violate the federal laws protecting whistleblowers.”
The employees signed a letter that contained “multiple protected disclosures,” they wrote. The “disclosures were plainly a contributing factor; and DHS cannot and will not be able to show by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the whistleblowing.”
What People Are Saying
Asked for comment, an OSC spokesperson told Newsweek that it “cannot confirm or deny the existence of a complaint filed with the agency. This policy is in place to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and the integrity of the complaint process.”
Stroud told Newsweek: “I signed the Katrina Declaration because I joined FEMA to help people and this administration’s gross mismanagement of FEMA is putting people in danger. There is so little I can do on a day-to-day basis to stop the gutting of vital programs, the mass migration of my coworkers, and all of the other baffling decisions being made that I felt this was one of the only ways I could actually do something to prevent FEMA from continuing to be ripped to shreds for a quick dollar.”
He added: “While the memo I received placing me on administrative leave claimed that this was not a punitive action, I find that hard to believe. It took them 36 hours to place me and everyone else who publicly signed the letter on administrative leave following the letter becoming public. Meanwhile, for the July floods in Kerrville, Texas that killed more people than Hurricane Harvey, it took them 72 hours to deploy search and rescue teams.”
Pines told Newsweek that the FEMA employees “put themselves in a vulnerable position, and they’re paying for it. But at the end of the day, if they’re able to make the agency better, then we owe all of them a debt that gratitude from the administration to FEMA to all Americans.
David Z. Seide, senior counsel at Government Accountability Project, said in a statement: “DHS’s actions are blatantly illegal. We salute these brave whistleblowers and, with our allies and partners, back their rights to speak truth to power.”
Traci Feit Love, founder and executive director of Lawyers for Good Government, said in a statement: “Lawyers for Good Government is proud to stand with these courageous whistleblowers for doing exactly what the law protects, and what the public demands, in telling the truth about dangerous government misconduct. 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.”
A FEMA spokesperson did not previously confirm if the employees were placed on leave because they signed the letter, but told Newsweek: “It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform. Change is always hard. It is especially for those invested in the status quo, who have forgotten that their duty is to the American people not entrenched bureaucracy.”
What’s Next
Stroud’s complaint asked the OSC to investigate his suspension and intervene, so he can hopefully be reinstated.
The letter led by the Government Accountability Project asks for an investigation to be launched and once completed, “find that DHS has illegally retaliated against the FEMA whistleblowers and order immediate corrective action,” including fully reinstating each worker to their jobs.
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