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

Schwartz's office gets about three dozen complaints a year from employees who say their whistle-blower rights were violated, her aides said.

Brian Hubbard, a former senior manager at the city's Emergency Management Agency, complained to Schwartz and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) that he was fired in 2006 for questioning how a federal grant was spent. A spokeswoman for the management agency said she could not discuss Hubbard's allegations.

Hubbard said he has applied for 36 city government jobs since then. An 18-year-veteran, he is convinced that he's been "blackballed."

"No one's coming forward because they're telling you, 'If you're not part of my team, be careful of the holes you dig, because you might find yourself in it.' My whole career has been destroyed," he said.

Life had already become harder for Cooper before she was terminated, she said. After she complained about sexual harassment, her car was vandalized in the office parking lot, other employees were told not to work with her and she was intimidated by the friends of the co-worker whom she had reported, she said. Nearly two years after she was terminated, Cooper, who has an MBA in information technology, has not found another job.

The road back can be hard, as Payne attests. Payne, who recently moved his Maryland-based consulting business to the District, said that after he went public about elevator problems, the regulatory affairs department accused him of using his job for private gain. An independent hearing examiner concluded that Payne should be reinstated with back pay in February 2007, but that didn't happen. The department solicited a second hearing examiner, who upheld the firing. Payne then sued. He is waiting for the outcome but said he believes he did the right thing.

"If I had to do it all over again," he said, "I'd do it."