Former D.C. Workers Say Law Doesn't Prevent Retaliation

The city provides avenues to report suspected illegal activities. Confidential hotlines to the D.C. Office of the Inspector General and to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer exist. The inspector general's hotline receives about 4,000 calls a year, according to its annual report. It noted that many are anonymous calls about minor personnel issues. Last year, 173 complaints from the hotline were investigated, the report said.

The finance office has an Office of Oversight and Integrity, which recently issued a report saying it had conducted 52 probes last year into alleged criminal wrongdoing among the agency's 1,200 employees.

Ben Lorigo, former head of the oversight office, said he was aware of Cooper's allegations, but city policy doesn't allow him to discuss specifics. Cooper said she met with Lorigo but didn't feel comfortable discussing the harassment because the superiors to whom she complained were his peers. In the past, Lorigo said, employees have felt comfortable reporting suspected criminal misconduct. He said he doesn't know why Cooper didn't or why no one came forward about the tax scandal.

"That's a big question people are asking: 'Why didn't somebody come to us?' " he said. "That's a question I still ask."

Umansky said employees have no reason to fear retaliation. They are given a copy of the code of conduct with information on how to confidentially report a violation. The office's Web site and posters throughout government buildings urge workers to report misconduct.

Amos, the transportation employee, claims that when he asked then-General Counsel Peter Nickles to "write a letter of assurance" that he would not be retaliated against for blowing the whistle on alleged legal violations with a contractor, Nickles refused.

Nickles said that Amos failed to provide any evidence of his allegations and that the city is not going to respond to "every wild allegation" by anyone whose job is in jeopardy. Amos said he hadn't known that his job was in jeopardy.

Joseph Bradley, secretary-treasurer of Local 2401 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said union employees fear retaliation, especially if a manager is involved, because "they can make your life miserable."

"A lot of people don't understand the law and they don't trust the law," Bradley said. "Everybody's got a mortgage or rent to pay. You might win a lawsuit two years down the line, but you can't support your family. It's too big of a gamble."

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog organization that works with federal government whistle-blowers, said: "One of the hidden dangers of being a whistle-blower is that the bureaucracy doesn't forget what you've done. The long-term danger, if you survive, is you always have to watch over your shoulder because they're going to get you."

D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) said she wrote the whistle-blowers law to protect workers after she was tipped off about problems in the police department.

"I did this law 10 years ago in order to avoid the kind of thievery that was happening at Tax and Revenue," said Schwartz, who held hearings after the scandal broke. "I want our employees to make us aware of theft, fraud or abuse before it gets to be a $20-, $30- or $50 million problem. It's mind-boggling that not one individual, including top managers," knew or told.