N0tification
and
Federal Employee Antidiscrimination & Retaliation
Act of 2001 (NO FEAR) by Congressman James
Sensenbrenner (R-WI) / Senator John Warner (R-VA).
Summary Below. Full text click HERE and type in HR 169.
NO FEAR states: The Congress finds that--
(1) good science requires a tolerance of opposing
viewpoints;
(2) Federal agencies cannot be run effectively if they
practice or tolerate discrimination;
(3) the Committee on Science of the House of
Representatives has heard testimony from
individuals, including representatives of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
and the National Whistleblower Center, that point to
chronic problems of discrimination and retaliation
against Federal employees at the Environmental
Protection Agency;
(4) in August 2000, a jury found that the
Environmental Protection Agency had discriminated
against a senior social scientist, and awarded that
scientist $600,000;
(5) in October 2000, an Occupational Safety and
Health Administration investigation found that the
Environmental Protection Agency had retaliated
against a senior scientist for disagreeing with that
agency on a matter of science and for helping
Congress to carry out its oversight responsibilities;
(6) notifying Federal employees of their rights under
discrimination and whistleblower statutes should
increase agency compliance with the law;
(7) requiring annual reports to Congress on the
number and severity of discrimination and
whistleblower cases brought against each Federal
agency should enable Congress to improve its
oversight over agencies' compliance with the law; and
(8) penalizing Federal agencies by requiring them to
pay for any discrimination or whistleblower judgment,
award, or settlement should improve agency
accountability with respect to whistleblower and
discrimination laws.
