Judge rules against 'reprisal culture' at USGS lab
The investigation shows Western Fisheries Research Center unfairly retaliated against a scientist with wrongful termination.
A federal judge has ruled that actions taken against a U.S. Geological Survey scientist constituted illegal retaliation for her repeated reports of dangerous biosafety breaches at a wildlife disease laboratory, according to the ruling posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This case is part of an ongoing pattern of scientific integrity failures at USGS labs.
In his ruling, Franklin Kang, an administrative judge for the civil service tribunal, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, ruled that Eveline (Evi) Emmenegger, a microbiologist who managed the highest biosafety level containment laboratory at USGS’ Seattle-based Western Fisheries Research Center (WFRC), had been improperly terminated in violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act. That ruling entitles her to collect damages and would have entitled her to reinstatement if she had not already been reinstated due to other errors in the removal action.