(Richland, WA) – A judge from the Department of Labor (DOL) has found in favor of Richard Cecil, a terminated whistleblower, and against a Hanford contractor, Fluor Hanford, Inc. The judge found that Fluor had retaliated against Cecil and ordered Fluor to reinstate him, pay him back-pay, pay his attorney fees, and post a notice of its infraction throughout the Hanford Site.
The finding by Judge William Dorsey of DOL, dated August 16, comes on the heels of a $415,000 settlement in another whistleblower case involving Fluor Hanford, Inc. in July 2006, and a separate jury verdict on behalf of 11 Hanford pipefitter whistleblowers last September awarding nearly $5 million in damages.
Cecil was a millwright at Hanford when he raised nuclear safety concerns associated with the removal of highly-radioactive spent reactor fuel. The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is providing legal representation to Cecil.
Cecil and other co-workers challenged a management decision to place a crane into operation in March 2003 despite a warning that the crane’s brakes might be faulty. For Cecil and his fellow workers, it was easy to envision a brake failure causing a cask which contained highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel to drop on a concrete pad and possibly endanger workers and the general public. Cecil, who has worked at the site for 31 years, demanded that the crane be fully checked over before being put back into service.
Within 45 days of voicing his concerns, Cecil was transferred to another job on the site and then laid off. Following his layoff, Cecil was not rehired for numerous jobs for which he had applied and was qualified.
Judge Dorsey issued his ruling after a five-day hearing that occurred in July 2004, making the following statements:
“The Complainant has proven discrimination by the intimidating nature of Mr. Dickenson’s [of Fluor Human Resources] presence during the crane meeting, the transfer of the Complainant within weeks of the crane incident to the 300 area where his reduced responsibilities made him more vulnerable to a reduction-in-force, the reduction of his communication-skill scores on the evaluation form used to determine lay offs, and through the testimony by two of his co-workers that managers stated he was laid off because he did not .keep his mouth shut.” (p. 8)
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“I find Mr. Dickinson’s inability to articulate a meaningful reason for his presence at a meeting that occurred after his regular working hours not credible. I find that his presence was a deliberate management strategy to pressure the millwrights to get the crane back in operation as soon as possible, regardless of their misgivings.” (p. 9)
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“I infer from the decrease in the Complainant’s performance ratings that management harbored resentment toward him for slowing down the crane’s production with his safety concerns. It defies belief that all of the Complainant’s communication skills would have dipped below the competent level for any legitimate reason, within a span of four months. He communicated a problem with the crane, which slowed production. Thereafter he was exiled to the 300 area to a position that kept him quiet, rather than called for communication skills. Mr. Fox testified that .the crane job was a factor that influenced the decline in the complainant’s performance ratings.” (p. 11)
Cecil worked for the Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Project, which was formed to address the urgent need to move spent fuel from degraded wet storage conditions in the so-called “K-Basins” in the 100 K Area on Hanford’s Central Plateau. The SNF Project has been removing radioactive fuel, sludge, debris, and water from the basins, and placing them in special canisters for storage at a dedicated facility in the 200 Area of Hanford.
As a contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Fluor Hanford is responsible for meeting the SNF Project’s milestones, in addition to the DOE’s own “accelerated cleanup” timeline. When a milestone is met on time, the DOE contractor is generally awarded a substantial financial bonus by the DOE. The SNF Project’s incentive performance program awards Fluor in excess of $40,000,000 for meeting milestones.
“Mr. Cecil is just the latest victim in a campaign by Fluor Hanford against workers who voice safety concerns,” said Tom Carpenter, GAP Nuclear Oversight Program Director. “The Secretary of Energy has repeatedly said that he is for safety, but if that is the case, why does the Department keep serial retaliators on the payroll,?”
GAP has represented numerous Hanford whistleblowers since 1987. Judge Dorsey’s Decision can be found on the DOL Website.