Federal Daily - July 29, 2010

Whistleblowers Group Thanks Obama for Elimination of EPA ‘Gag’ Rules

A group which defends whistleblowers applauded the Obama administration’s repudiation of Environmental Protection Agency rules which the group says “gagged” two veteran EPA enforcement attorneys.

The Government Accountability Project on July 28 posted a thank-you letter to President Obama after the EPA withdrew rules that GAP said were tantamount to “censorship orders.”

Specifically, GAP credited White House Ethics Counsel Norm Eisen for intervening on behalf of the two EPA attorneys, Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel. The two had posted a YouTube video challenging “cap-and-trade” rules as a viable climate change solution. The EPA, in turn, accused the two of violating ethics rules by listing and referencing their government positions and experience to strengthen their credibility, GAP said.

In addition, Eisen was able to urge the Office of Government Ethics to issue new guidelines against using ethics rules to gag whistleblowers’ noncommercial speech, said GAP Legal Director Tom Devine

“This victory would not have happened without the White House,” Devine said. “Most impressive, the administration delivered on transparency commitments by ending censorship of those criticizing its own policies.”

To see more, go to: http://whistleblower.org/storage/documents/
presidential_thank_you_letter.pdf.

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EEOC Releases Annual Workforce Snapshot

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week released its annual snapshot of the 2.8 million-member federal workforce.

The report, which assesses the state of equal employment opportunity for federal employees and tracks composition trends, found that although the proportion of white males continues to hold relatively steady over the last 10 years, there have been subtle changes in the makeup of the federal work force. Overall, the participation rates of women, Hispanics and Asians have shown slight gains.

The number of women in the federal work force rose from 42.3 percent in 2000 to 44.06 percent in 2009; Hispanics from 6.81 percent to 7.90 percent; and Asian-Americans from 5.22 percent to 5.84 percent. Despite the good news, the report noted that the representation of women and Hispanics remained below their overall availability in the national civilian labor force as reported in the 2000 census.

According to the report, the average grade in Fiscal Year 2009 for permanent and temporary General Schedule employees was 9.9 ($51,869 per year). But some groups were paid less—Hispanic employees, for example, averaged a grade 9.4 ($45,044), and black or African American employees averaged a grade 9 ($40,949). The average grade for Asian employees (10.4) and white employees (10.2) exceeded the government-wide average, the report said. The average GS grade for women overall remained at 9.3 ($43,679), more than one grade below the average grade level for men of 10.4.

After a steady decline for the past 10 years, the participation rate of employees with targeted disabilities held level in FY 2009 at 0.88 percent. Despite a modest net gain of 236 employees in Fiscal Year 2009 over FY 2008, the proportion of individuals with targeted disabilities employed as feds still fell far short of the 2 percent goal set by EEOC.

The full text of the report is available on the agency’s web site at www.eeoc.gov/federal/reports/fsp2009/index.cfm#exec.

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