[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE NOTIFICATION AND FEDERAL EMPLOYEE ANTI-
                   DISCRIMINATION AND RETALIATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                    HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 2000

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, as the Chairman of the Committee on 
Science, I believe open discourse at federal agencies is necessary for 
sound science. Intolerance inhibits, if not prevents, thorough 
scientific investigation.
  Accordingly, I was very disturbed by allegations that EPA practices 
intolerance and discrimination against its scientists and employees. 
For the past year, the Committee on Science has investigated numerous 
charges of retaliation and discrimination at EPA, and unfortunately 
they were found to have merit.
  The Committee held a hearing in March 2000, over allegations that 
agency officials were intimidating EPA scientists and even harassing 
private citizens who publicly voiced concerns about agency policies and 
science. While investigating the complaints of several scientists, a 
number of African-American and disabled employees came to the Committee 
expressing similar concerns. One of those employees, Dr. Marsha 
Coleman-Adebayo, won a $600,000 jury decision against EPA for 
discrimination.
  It further appears EPA has gone so far as to retaliate against some 
of the employees and scientists that assisted the Science Committee 
during our investigation. In one case, the Department of Labor found 
EPA retaliated against a female scientists for, among other things, her 
assistance with the Science Committee's work. The EPA reassigned this 
scientist from her position as lab director at the Athens, Georgia 
regional office effective November 5, 2000--a position she held for 16 
years--to a position handling grants at EPA headquarters. In the 
October 3 decision, the Department of Labor directed EPA to cancel the 
transfer because it was based on retaliation.
  EPA's response to these problems has been to claim that they have a 
great diversity program. Apparently, EPA believes that if it hires the 
right makeup of people, it does not matter if its managers discriminate 
and harass those individuals.
  Diversity is great, but in and of itself, it is not the answer. 
Enforcing the laws protecting employees from harassment, discrimination 
and retaliation is the answer. EPA, however, does not appear to do 
this. EPA managers have not been held accountable when charges of 
intolerance and discrimination are found to be true. Such 
unresponsiveness by Administrator Browner and the Agency legitimizes 
this indefensible behavior.
  To assure accountability, I have introduced the Notification and 
Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act (No FEAR Act) 
of 2000, H.R.     . Federal employees with diverse backgrounds and 
ideas should have no fear of being harassed because of their ideas or 
the color of their skin. This bill would ensure accountability 
throughout the entire Federal Government--not just EPA. Under current 
law, agencies are held harmless when they lose judgments, awards or 
compromise settlements in whistleblower and discrimination cases.
  The Federal Government pays such awards out of a government wide 
fund. The No FEAR Act would require agencies to pay for their misdeeds 
and mismanagement out of their own budgets. The bill would also require 
Federal agencies to notify employees about any applicable 
discrimination and whistleblower protection laws and report to Congress 
on the number of discrimination and whistleblower cases within each 
agency. Additionally, each agency would have to report on the total 
cost of all whistleblower and discrimination judgments or settlements 
involving the agency.
  Federal employees and Federal scientists should have no fear that 
they will be discriminated against because of their diverse views and 
backgrounds. H.R.      is a significant step towards achieving this 
goal.

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