The Trump administration reassigned and threatened to fire a whistleblower who raised concerns over federal health workers’ safety. The workers were sent to greet high-risk American evacuees from the coronavirus epicenter in Wuhan, China, without proper training or appropriate protective gear, a new complaint says.
Workers had face-to-face contact with the evacuees and were potentially exposed to the virus on three occasions during the emergency public health mission, according to the complaint filed Wednesday with the Office of the Special Counsel, an established office separate from the one that was run by Robert Mueller. Some expressed concern over the lack of protective equipment. One person had “no training or experience in any federal emergency management, public health emergency response, or safety or operational protocols to run the mission.”
Lawyers for the whistleblower said that, while workers did not show symptoms of infection, they were not tested.
The whistleblower is described as a senior health leader at the Department of Health and Human Services with decades of experience, according to the Washington Post, which received a redacted copy of the complaint from the whistleblower’s lawyers. The whistleblower received two HHS awards from HHS Secretary Alex Azar last year and the highest performance evaluations, the whistleblower’s lawyers said.
“She was involuntarily assigned to a position in a subject matter where she has no expertise,” said Ari Wilkenfeld, the whistleblower’s lawyer. The agency said the reassignment was “necessary to meet the needs of the department,” according to a memo the whistleblower received. “If I did not accept involuntary reassignment, I would be terminated from federal service through adverse personnel action,” according to the whistleblower’s complaint.
The whistleblower is seeking federal protection, the lawyers said, alleging the whistleblower was improperly reassigned after escalating concerns within the department. Multiple reports said the whistleblower was given 15 days to accept the new role or the whistleblower would be fired.
The whistleblower is also requesting assistance from the office of California Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a spokesperson for his office said.
“They never should have been without P.P.E,” HHS chief Azar said in response to a question from Gomez in a hearing on Thursday, referring to personal protective equipment.
A statement from HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said: “We take all whistleblower complaints very seriously, and are providing the complainant all appropriate protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act. We are evaluating the complaint and have nothing further to add at this time.”
