August, 26 2010, 03:12pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dylan Blaylock, Communications Director
202.457.0034, ext. 137,
dylanb@whistleblower.org
Judge Rules D.C. Whistleblower Law Retroactively Applies to Cases
D.C. Fire Department Whistleblower Case Opens Door for Previously Barred Claims
WASHINGTON
A decision by a Superior Court
Judge last week, involving the case of a whistleblower from the Washington, D.C.
Fire & Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) department, may help open the door
for a slew of whistleblower cases from current/former District employees to be
brought against the city.
Theresa Cusick served as FEMS General Counsel until
2007, when she informed an Assistant U.S. Attorney that a FEMS officer had a
conflict of interest in working with the Office of the U.S. Attorney (USA).
Cusick also blew the whistle to the D.C. Office of Inspector General (DC-OIG)
that Assistant D.C. Fire Chief Brain Lee illegally prohibited her from
communicating with either DC-OIG or USA regarding the officer under
investigation. (A full
background of Cusick's case appears below)
Cusick brought suit in September 2008 under the
District's Whistleblower Protection Act (DCWPA), seeking reinstatement to
her former position and damages. Recently, attorneys for the District sought
dismissal of the case claiming, in part, that Cusick violated D.C. Code SS12-309
by failing to timely notify the District of her whistleblower claim within six
months after the circumstances giving rise to her lawsuit.
However, recent amendments to the DCWPA,
effective March 2010, abolished this notice requirement after city lawmakers
recognized that the short time period for notification was a significant
impediment to whistleblowers. Last week, Senior Superior Court Judge Leonard
Braman held that the repeal of the notice requirement in the WPA should be applied retroactively.
"This is a great victory for D.C. employees who
have suffered retaliation for whistleblowing," stated GAP Senior Counsel
Richard Condit, a lawyer for Cusick. "This means that District employees
and their lawyers - who may have previously believed that the notice
requirement barred a claim under the DCWPA - should absolutely reconsider
whether the claim can be brought."
The Court summarized its analysis of the issue as
follows:
...the
Court is of the view that the statutory notice provision, section 12-309, was
repealed, that not only was it -- was the amendment a repealer of the previous
provision that made the statutory notice provision applicable to the
Whistleblower's Act but that the law of the District as declared in the
Montgomery case and cases cited in the Montgomery case [590 A.2d at 162], based
upon the legislative history of the amendment to the Whistleblower's Act as
stated in the committee report, based upon the Uniform Law Commissioner's Model
Statutory Construction Act, all of these authorities constrain the Court to apply the amendment
notwithstanding that this case was pending before the amendment. [emphasis added]
The transcript of the hearing, Cusick v. District of Columbia, Civil No.
08-6915 (MPA) can be
viewed here (the passage above appears on page 35).
Under Chief Dennis Rubin, FEMS has exhibited a pattern
of retaliation against fire department personnel. Retaliatory actions under the
Rubin administration include ordering a fire department captain to undergo a
psychological evaluation after she raised concerns regarding the management
practices of certain Fire and EMS high-ranking officials, the involuntary
reassignment of fire investigators who blew the whistle on Fire/EMS failures in
investigating the 2007 fire in Eastern Market, and the termination of a
firefighter following his testimony at a D.C. City Council hearing.
Background on Theresa Cusick
Theresa Cusick is a former senior attorney of the
District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General (OAG) who served as the
General Counsel of FEMS from June 1998 to June 2007. While serving as General
Counsel, Cusick blew the whistle to an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) that a
FEMS officer in the Fire Prevention Division was being investigated by the
DC-OIG for his alleged involved in a cheating scandal in the FEMS Training
Academy. She advised the
AUSA that this EMS officer should not be
involved in an unrelated criminal investigation involving a fire inspector in
the Fire Prevention Division. Her concern was that FEMS, or the Office of the
U.S. Attorney for the District of
Columbia, should not rely on the officer under
investigation until he was cleared of any involvement in the scandal.
Cusick also blew the whistle to the DC-OIG, the D.C.
OAG and to D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin that she was given an illegal order by
Assistant Fire Chief Brain Lee, prohibiting her from communicating with DC-OIG
and the AUSA regarding the officer under investigation. Subsequent to her
whistleblowing and upon request by Chief Rubin, the OAG removed Ms. Cusick from
her position as FEMS General Counsel. The controversy surrounding Chief
Rubin's request for Cusick's removal is revealed, in part, in sworn
deposition testimony given by Chief Rubin. A GAP
produced video of a portion of this deposition was released
earlier this year.
After her removal from FEMS, Cusick was given a
temporary position within the OAG with the promise from the Chief Deputy
Attorney General, Eugene Adams, that he would assist her in securing permanent
employment within the OAG. However, Cusick was never offered a permanent
position, ultimately ending her career as a senior attorney with OAG.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 30-year-old nonprofit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. We pursue this mission through our Nuclear Safety, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food & Drug Safety, and Federal Employee/National Security programs. GAP is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.
LATEST NEWS
Privacy Defenders Decry 'Spy Draft' in Section 702 Renewal Advanced by Senate
"It's not about who RISAA allows the government to spy on, it's about who RISAA allows the government to force to spy," explained one critic.
Apr 18, 2024
Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
In a 273-147 vote last week, House lawmakers passed RISAA, including an amendment critics say dramatically expands the government's unchecked surveillance authority by compelling a wide range of individuals and organizations—including businesses and the media—to cooperate in government spying operations.
This so-called "Make Everyone a Spy" clause would allow the attorney general or director of national intelligence to force electronic communication service providers to "immediately provide... all information, facilities, or assistance" the government deems necessary.
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, warned Thursday. "It will lead to significant distrust between journalists and sources, not to mention everyone else."
"It's not about who RISAA allows the government to spy on, it's about who RISAA allows the government to force to spy," he added. "Regardless of whether the end target of the surveillance is a foreigner, it's indisputable that the people the government can enlist to conduct the surveillance are Americans. And what's more, these civilians ordered to spy would be gagged and sworn to secrecy under the law."
In addition to the "Make Everyone a Spy" provision, civil libertarians have sounded the alarm over the House lawmakers' rejection of an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the legislation.
Critics accuse Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and colleagues including Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) of trying to rush a vote on RISAA while disingenuously claiming Section 702's powers will expire with the law on Friday. That's a misleading claim, as a national security court earlier this month approved the government's request to continue a disputed surveillance program even if Section 702 lapses.
"There is simply no defense of Majority Leader Schumer and Sen. Warner's duplicity," Sean Vitka, policy director at the progressive advocacy group Demand Progress, said in a statement. "House Intelligence Committee leaders poisoned this bill with one of the most repugnant surveillance expansions in history, and apparently the administration was too busy attacking commonsense privacy protections to notice. They know it, we know it, and now the American people know it."
"There can be no mistake: Sens. Schumer and Warner just helped hand the next president an unspeakably dangerous weapon that will be used against their own constituents," Vitka added. "And there is only one vote left to stop it."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who
said earlier this week that the bill would dragoon the American people into becoming "an agent for Big Brother"—on Thursday argued that "this issue demands a debate about meaningful reforms, not a rushed vote to rubber-stamp more warrantless government surveillance powers."
In an attempt to tackle the warrantless surveillance issue, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) on Thursday proposed a RISAA amendment that would require the government to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before accessing Americans' private communications.
However, the amendment contains exceptions to the warrant requirement in the event of unspecified emergencies and cyberattacks.
"If the government wants to spy on the private communications of Americans, they should be required to get approval from a judge—just as our Founders intended," Durbin said in a statement. "Congress has a responsibility to the American people to get this right."
The Biden administration and U.S. intelligence agencies vehemently oppose the Durbin-Cramer amendment. The White House called the measure "a reckless policy choice contrary to the key lessons of 9/11 and not grounded in any constitutional requirement or statute."
"The amendment outright bars the government from gaining access to lawfully collected information using terms associated with U.S. persons," the administration added. "Exceptions to that prohibition are narrow and unworkable. They are insufficient to protect our national security."
On Wednesday, the House also passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, which would prohibit the government from buying Americans' information from data brokers if it would otherwise need a warrant to obtain the data, which includes location and internet records. The Senate will now take up FANFSA.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'The Opposite of Leadership': US Vetoes Palestine's UN Membership
Palestine's permanent observer at the United Nations said the resolution's failure "will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination."
Apr 18, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday used the country's veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block Palestine's bid to become a full member of the U.N.
While 12 nations voted in favor of Palestinian membership and two abstained, the United States is one of five countries—along with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom—who have veto authority at the Security Council.
Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
In the lead-up to Thursday's vote, the Biden administration was pressuring other countries to oppose the Palestinian Authority's renewed membership effort so it could possibly avoid a veto, according to leaked cables obtained by The Intercept.
"Take a moment to ponder how isolated Biden has made the U.S.," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, after the veto. "Biden lobbied Japan, South Korea, and Ecuador HARD to oppose the Palestine resolution so that the U.S. wouldn't have to veto. They refused. So Biden cast his fourth veto in seven months (!!) This is the opposite of leadership."
In addition to the nations Parsi highlighted, Algeria, China, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia voted for giving Palestine full U.N. membership while Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstained.
After the vote, U.N. Newsreported on remarks from Riyad Mansour, a U.N. permanent observer for the state of Palestine:
"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
Council members were given the opportunity "to revive the hope that has been lost among our people" and to translate their commitment towards a two-state solution into firm action "that cannot be maneuvered or retracted," and the majority of council members "have risen to the level of this historic moment, and they have stood on the side of justice and freedom and hope, in line with the ethical and humanitarian and legal principles that must govern our world and in line with simple logic."
"The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination," Mansour added. "We will not stop in our effort. The state of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near, and we are the faithful."
Parsi said that "a Western-friendly senior Global South diplomat" told him of Biden's veto: "Whatever agonizing claim the U.S. had to lead a self-appointed free world has died a very loud public death on the Security Council horseshoe tonight. YOU CAN'T LEAD IF YOU CAN'T LISTEN."
Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, has faced fierce criticism in the United States and around the world for U.S. complicity in Israel's war on Gaza—which Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority, has controlled for nearly two decades. In under seven months, Israeli forces have killed 33,970 Palestinians, injured another 76,770, displaced most of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million population, devastated civilian infrastructure, and severely limited the flow of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Israel—which already got $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid before October 7—continues to receive weapons support from the Biden administration, even as a growing chorus of critics, including some Democrats in Congress, argues that the arms transfers violate U.S. and international law.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
Apr 18, 2024
The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
The arrests came a day after Shafik testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on campus.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
"There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against anti-war protesters, because it's been pro-war and anti-war protesters is what it seems, like, correct?" asked Omar.
"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
"Suspending and arresting Columbia/Barnard student activists and disbanding student organizations—including Jewish students and organizations—doesn't combat antisemitism or increase safety," said Cabán. "All it does is punish and intimidate those who believe in human rights for Palestinians. Shameful."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular