Opinion ID: 801202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The AJ's Exclusion of Witnesses from the Hearing

Text: The AJ strictly limited the number of witnesses permitted to testify at Whitmore's hearing. Of Whitmore's twelve requested witnesses, the AJ only approved three: Whitmore, Mark Kitzmiller, and Kie'arra Pretlow. [2] For the DOL, the AJ approved Shalhoub, Witt, and Dubois. The AJ's rationale was that other than Whitmore and the proposing and deciding officials, only those such as Kitzmiller who had actually witnessed the July 10 incident could offer sufficiently pertinent testimony. The AJ thus treated the hearing as if it only functioned to examine the proof of the charges and the reasonableness of the penaltynot Whitmore's whistleblower defense. Among Whitmore's nine excluded witnesses were David Morgan and the witnesses interviewed during Morgan's investigation. These witnesses were offered to show bias on the part of Morgan and OSHA officials against Whitmore, as well as proof that the stated reasons for Whitmore's removal were a mere pretext for his being removed due to his whistleblowing disclosures. The AJ excluded these witnesses because she believed they are not material to the central issue in this matter, but rather have only peripheral relevance.... A75. Several of those witnesses interviewed by Morgan were also offered to testify as to Whitmore's integrity, leadership, and commitment to OSHA's mission, as well as the alleged harassment of Whitmore by Dubois and others creating a hostile work environment to provoke Whitmore. Another witness offer by Whitmore named Eleanor Lauderdale was a non-OSHA DOL employee offered to testify regarding a DOL manager whose act of physical assault resulted in no discipline (and in fact the manager was later promoted). The AJ excluded her testimony because Whitmore failed to timely provide the AJ with a detailed summary of Ms. Lauderdale's testimony, as the AJ had requested. Also precluded by the AJ was the testimony of Dr. Adam Finkel, another OSHA whistleblower investigated by David Morgan and removed from his position, regarding bias at OSHA against whistleblowers. A declaration signed by Finkel attests to various matters about which he would have testified at the hearing if given the opportunity. Finkel declared that certain OSHA officials had in the past made threats of violence to coworkers such as [i]f you ever say that again, I'll squeeze your head like a grape until it explodes, I'm going to tear you limb from limb, and I'm going to kill you, but that none was ever taken seriously, and no discipline or other action resulted from them. A657-68. Finkel chalked all of this up to being products of the stress and tension that permeated the Agency, and commented that [t]he senior leadership at OSHA clearly regards such statements as unremarkable, even funny, when they are made by favored colleagues. A658. Finkel also recounted an instance where an employee slammed a door so hard in Finkel's office that the hinges popped off and had to be replaced, but Finkel never reported the incident since he believed that no action would be taken against her. A657. The AJ thus admitted only testimony as to the affirmative charges brought against Whitmore, and excluded witnesses offered to support Whitmore's affirmative whistleblowing defense.