Opinion ID: 801202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whitmore's Final Disclosures and Removal

Text: Whitmore continued to make whistleblowing public disclosures and comments while on paid administrative leave. On June 19, 2008, he testified before Congress regarding the underreporting of workplace injuries and illness, where he accused senior OSHA management of intentionally ignoring fraudulent data submitted by employers. A967-76. On June 27, 2008, he appeared on a television program again discussing recordkeeping deficiencies, concluding that OSHA was not there representing the workers. We're representing the businesses. A977-82. On February 18, 2009, the Washington Post published an article about Whitmore's various disclosures and the fact that he had been placed on extended administrative leave. A527-28. The DOL IG saw the article and wrote to the Acting Deputy Secretary, who then spoke to the Deputy Assistant Secretary, stating that the agency needed to resolve this one way or the other. A190. A few weeks later on April 3, 2009, the DOL issued a notice of proposed personnel action proposing the removal of Whitmore from his position. A748-55. The 2009 proposal was not the same one that had been authored (but not issued) by Goddard in 2007, although the substance of the 2009 proposal was essentially the same. This time, the proposal was authored by Steven Witt with Donald Shalhoub, Deputy Assistant Secretary, as the deciding official, both of whom were outside Whitmore's chain of command. Witt's proposal extensively summarized and quoted from Morgan's report, and reached the same conclusion that a permanent removal of Whitmore was necessary. A756-63, A827-859. The April 3, 2009 proposal charged Whitmore with Disruptive and Intimidating Behavior, Conduct Unbecoming a Supervisor, and Inappropriate Conduct in the Workplace. The July 10, 2007 incident formed the basis for the first charge, while the latter two charges were based on the several emails concerning Whitmore's disputes with Dubois in which he took an accusatory tone with Dubois and copied his staff and other OSHA management officials. A12-13, A748-55. The AJ later found these emails to be written and sent in an attempt to embarrass Dubois and undermine his authority. A12-14. The proposal stated that the removal was necessary due to Whitmore's unprofessional, highly disruptive, and totally unacceptable [behavior] in the workplace, which severely undermined the confidence of OSHA management in [his] judgment, and ability to carry out [his] responsibilities in an appropriate manner.... A764. It concluded that Whitmore's actions had created a dysfunctional and fearful environment.... A764. Mitigating factors, such as Whitmore's long tenure as a good employee, were considered, but were deemed outweighed by the seriousness of his conduct and his undermining authority within OSHA. A765. Witt's 2009 proposal echoed the proposal authored in 2007 by Goddard. Indeed, the two proposals were so substantively similar that on April 14, 2009, ten days after the Witt proposal was completed, OSHA's Robert Poogach wrote an email to David Morgan specifically questioning whether Witt's proposal in fact reflected Witt's independent review and judgment: I'm confident that we can make the case that this is not tied to any protected activity.... I'm more concerned that we drafted that proposal in November 2007 and that it then magically appeared as Witt's proposal in April 2009 ... in large measure as drafted (with major subsequent tweaks) originally. So dod [sic] Witt do an independant [sic] read of teh [sic] facts or was he merely the guy duped into signing what we had long ago decided? A680 (second ellipsis in original) (emphasis added). Nevertheless, Witt and Shalhoub claimed to have independently reviewed the facts surrounding Whitmore's administrative leave, and Witt testified that he believed anything less than removal would continue the same problem, expose people in [DOL] to Mr. Whitmore and possible violence and intimidating behavior. A122. The decision to remove Whitmore was made final by Shalhoub on July 13, 2009, and became effective July 31, 2009.