|
|
Bush Signs Fed Whistleblower Bill
By SONYA ROSS
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush signed legislation Wednesday that requires federal agencies to pay for discrimination or ``whistleblower'' cases from their own budgets.
The bill is called No FEAR, an acronym for Notification and Federal Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Act.
The legislation ``could not have been passed without the pain and the sheer agony of so many employees who came forward to mention that their lives were made almost in the form of a nightmare because they chose to stand up,'' said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
Bush signed the bill in an Oval Office ceremony attended by a few civil rights activists and members of Congress. Some of them heralded it as the first major civil rights law of the new millennium.
``By holding accountable those who insist upon discriminating against others, the federal government will become a role model for civil rights - and not civil rights violations,'' said House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., a sponsor of the bill.
Under the law, federal agencies must pay for settlements or judgments against them in whistleblower and discrimination cases. Currently, such payments are made from a general, government-wide fund.
``It means now the federal government will have to obey its own laws, ... not hide behind a slush fund in the Treasury to pay for their indiscretions,'' said Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a federal employee who won a $600,000 judgment against the Environmental Protection Agency for racial and gender bias. Her case was the impetus for the law.
The legislation also requires that employees be notified of their rights under anti-discrimination laws, and forces agencies to report annually to Congress on how many discrimination cases were brought against them, what happened in those cases and whether any employees were disciplined.
Last year, some EPA scientists said they were targeted for reprisals after they questioned agency policies. An investigation found that the number of discrimination complaints against federal agencies filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission more than doubled during the 1990s.
NAACP board member Leroy Warren said, ``This legislation should stop some of the managers whose actions are like some international outlaw, where they can do what they want to, when they want to and how bad they want to, without anyone taking control of it.''
05/15/02 19:17 EDT
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on the Judiciary
F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman
_______________________________________
www.house.gov/judiciary
News Advisory
For immediate release Contact: Jeff Lungren/Terry Shawn
April 30, 2002 202-225-2492
House Passes Sensenbrenner/Jackson Lee
No FEAR Civil Rights Legislation
"First New Civil Rights Law of the 21st Century"
Now Sent for President Bush's Signature
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House today by a 412-0 margin passed bipartisan civil rights legislation sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.). H.R. 169, the Notification and Federal Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2001 (No FEAR), has been described by Time columnist Jack White as "the first new civil rights law of the 21st century." No FEAR fights discrimination and retaliation at federal agencies by forcing agencies that discriminate to pay the costs associated with their discrimination (judgments, awards, or compromise settlements) rather than by the current general federal judgment fund.
The House originally passed No FEAR by a 420-0 margin on October 2, 2001. The Senate made a few small changes before approving it on April 23, 2002. Today's House passage sends the bill to President George W. Bush for his signature.
"The Federal Government must be the role model for civil rights - not for civil rights violations. That was not the case in the 1990s, but it must be the case in the 21st century. For far too long there has been little accountability when Federal agencies discriminate and retaliate against their employees and that is about to change with the enactment of the No FEAR bill," commented Chairman Sensenbrenner.
Civil rights problems in the Federal workforce are three-fold. First, because of inadequate notification requirements, many employees are not aware of their rights and many managers are not aware of their responsibilities. Second, Federal agencies and Congress cannot assess the extent of the problem due to inadequate reporting. And third, Federal agencies are not accountable for the misdeeds of their employees, because the agencies simply tap the general treasury to pay for court judgments and settlements in discrimination cases.
The No FEAR Act targets these three problems. The bill will require agencies to pay for all court settlements or judgments for discrimination and retaliation cases, instead of allowing the agency to use a government-wide slush fund. This will make the agencies more accountable.
The bill has a notification requirement aimed at improving workforce relations by increasing managers' and employees' knowledge of their respective rights and responsibilities.
The Act also has reporting requirements that will help to determine if a pattern of misconduct exists within an agency and whether that agency is taking appropriate action to address the problem. The GAO testified on May 9, 2001 that such tracking of complaints, cases and costs is not occurring, but that it is critical to understanding whether a problem exists.
H.R. 169 was reintroduced last year following the 2000 House Science Committee investigation under then-Chairman Sensenbrenner found a disturbing pattern of intolerance, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation at the Environmental Protection Agency. During the investigation, federal employees in other agencies alleged similar problems, making it clear that this was a government-wide problem.
Daily Briefing
May 1, 2002 Anti-discrimination bill ready for president’s signature By Kellie Lunney
klunney@govexec.com
Congress sent President Bush a bill Tuesday that would make federal agencies more accountable for discrimination and retaliation against employees. The Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2001 (No FEAR) would require agencies that lose or settle discrimination and whistleblower cases to pay judgments out of their own budgets. Those payments are currently paid out of a general government fund. The House unanimously passed the bill (H.R. 169) in October, and the Senate approved the legislation with minor changes last week. President Bush is expected to sign the legislation, said a spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee.“The federal government must be the role model for civil rights—not for civil rights violations,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and sponsor of the bill. “For far too long there has been little accountability when federal agencies discriminate and retaliate against their employees and that is about to change with the enactment of the No FEAR bill.”Allegations of discrimination at the Environmental Protection Agency prompted the No FEAR bill, which Sensenbrenner and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, introduced in October 2000. In August 2000, a black senior manager at the EPA won a $600,000 verdict in a race and sex discrimination suit against the agency. During an October 2000 hearing before the House Science Committee, then-EPA Administrator Carol Browner and other agency officials vigorously defended the EPA’s commitment to diversity.Under the proposed law, agencies would be required to make employees aware of discrimination and whistleblower protection laws. The bill would also require each agency to file an annual report detailing the number of discrimination or whistleblower cases filed with it, how the cases were resolved, the amount of settlements and the number of agency employees disciplined for discrimination or harassment. In March, the Rev. Al Sharpton and a group of federal employees staged a rally on Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington to urge Senate passage of the bill.
Brought to you by GovExec.com
|
|
