No FEAR Coalition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2013
Gina McCarthy: Depositions have started
Exposing EPA Corruption at the Highest Levels
The new EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy will not only have to focus on climate change and the toxicity of our air and water, but also highly public trials that are scheduled within months of her assumed-confirmation. These trials will expose
massive incompetence in the Office of Civil Rights, the inner-workings of a corrupt environment at the EPA that retaliates against whistleblowers attempting to protect public health.
Two EPA employees, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Susan Morris, will be taking EPA back to court to expose its treatment of whistleblowers and the impact on public health and civil rights. Senior former and current officials within EPA will be deposed, such as Ray Spears, former Deputy Chief of Staff to three EPA administrators; Rafael DeLeon, former Director of Civil Rights and Human Resources as well as legal advisor to EPA administrators; and Karen Higginbotham, former Civil Rights Director now a special assistant in the Office of the Administrator. The depositions will cover decades of allegations of corruption at the highest levels of the EPA. Corruption that has, no doubt, placed the public and EPA employees in jeopardy.
The cases, scheduled for trial in the spring will demonstrate how EPA senior officials in key positions used their authority to retaliate against employees who raised prohibited personnel practices and warned of dangers to public health. Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo won a significant jury award in her case against EPA a decade ago that resulted in the passage of the 2002 No FEAR Act by Congress. She returned to the agency after her successful case only to face more retaliation andeventual termination of her career.
Depositions have started at the EPA in both cases. Senior level EPA officials have been subpoenaed and information will be forthcoming that will shock the public.
The trio (Spears, DeLeon and Higginbotham) were also involved in complaints of discrimination and retaliation filed by the former Assistant Director in the Office of Civil Rights, Susan Morris. Morris filed a successful whistleblowing complaint with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC.) The OSC, in a letter to former EPA Administrator Lisa Jasckon stated that their investigation uncovered retaliation against Ms. Morris for exposing the fact that Ms. Higginbotham refused to submit mandatory affirmative employment reports to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for Congress. EPA defied an order by the EEOC to restore Ms. Morris to her position. Instead, the agency terminated her employment.
contact: 240-731-9577
nofearcoalition@aol.com
Find me at about.me/marshacolemanadebayo,
Find me at about.me/marshacolemanadebayo,
Author, No FEAR: A Whistleblower's Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA - www.amazon.com
