U.S. Discrimination Penalty Bill is $1 Billion and Counting: We've Got Their Number

Part 1

by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

“Instead of ﬁring abusive and discriminatory managers, the government has preferred to settle discrimination cases—to protect the status quo.”

Last Wednesday the No FEAR Coalition announced its ﬁnding that approximately $1 billion has been spent in the decade since the enactment of the No FEAR Act to settle cases of abuse or to pay court judgments. This revelation came at an Institute for Public Accuracy press conference to announce the launch of its new whistleblower- friendly website ExposeFacts.org. I sit on the ExposeFacts advisory board and was a featured speaker.

My message was simple: Instead of ﬁring abusive and discriminatory managers, the government has preferred to settle discrimination cases—to protect the status quo. In retrospect I am honored to think that I was the ﬁrst ever whistleblower to engage ExposeFacts with a new public revelation.

The ExposeFacts.org site will feature the “SecureDrop” whistleblower submission system, that will provide an electronic alternative for whistleblowers to disclose information important for public safety without exposing themselves to government reprisals as so often happens to whistleblowers working within the status quo.

$1 Billion protecting the status quo is an unconscionable example of governmental fraud, waste and abuse given the range of domestic problems beset by budgetary pressures including run-down schools, veterans denied medical care, dilapidated urban infrastructure and city dwellers suffocating under the burden of cancer causing pollutants. In short, the government considers the $1 billion to be money well spent. Whistleblowers are simply collateral damage—no cost is too great to maintain the structure of fear, retaliation and abuse that allows the federal government to execute its imperial mission with impunity.

“Had Donald Sterling been a manager within the federal government, taxpayers would have paid for his legal defense by government lawyers and his managers would have promoted him.”

Contrast this with the unfortunate details of disgraced former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his universally denounced racist remarks. While it was striking to hear a man whose team was predominantly composed of people of color be so ardent in his insistence to keep blacks out, far more breathtaking was the speed with which the NBA reacted to—and penalized—one of its own. In a matter of weeks Sterling's remarks had cost him his team and brought him a lifetime banishment from the NBA.

Had Sterling been a manager within the federal government, taxpayers would have paid for his legal defense by government lawyers and his managers would have promoted him. Such is the status quo. Under this system a known racist directing the Ofﬁce of Civil Rights would not be out of the question.

The NoFEAR Act (Notiﬁcation and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation) took effect October 1, 2002. The goal of the No FEAR legislation was intended to make federal agencies more accountable for employment discrimination and whistleblower retaliation violations. One strategy NoFEAR used to accomplish this goal was to require agencies to reimburse the Judgment Fund for employment discrimination and whistleblower settlements and judgments paid on their behalf. Unfortunately, No FEAR does not require agencies to reimburse DOJ for attorney fees and associated costs incurred in defending the government in cases covered under the act. Once we receive the ﬁnancial reports from the DOJ the actual cost to taxpayers of defending corrupt managers will be well in excess of $1 billion.

Next week in Part 2 I will take a hard look at the numbers we do have.

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo is the author of No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. It is available through amazon.com and the National Whistleblower Center. Dr. Coleman-Adebayo worked at the EPA for 18 years and blew the whistle on a US multinational corporation that endangered vanadium mine workers. Marsha's successful lawsuit lead to the introduction and passage of the ﬁrst civil rights and whistleblower law of the 21st century: the Notiﬁcation and Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act). She is Director of Transparency and Accountability for the Green Shadow Cabinet. Visit her website at www.marshacoleman-adebayo.com.

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