Bush Signs ‘Whistle-Blower’ Measure

A bill signed Wednesday requires federal agencies to pay for discrimination or “whistle-blower” cases from their own budgets.

The legislation is called No Fear, an acronym for Notification and Federal Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Act.

It “could not have been passed without the pain and the sheer agony of so many employees who came forward to mention that their lives were made almost in the form of a nightmare because they chose to stand up,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas).

President Bush signed the bill in an Oval Office ceremony attended by civil rights activists and members of Congress.

“By holding accountable those who insist upon discriminating against others, the federal government will become a role model for civil rights--and not civil rights violations,” said House Judiciary Chairman James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), a sponsor of the bill.

Under the law, federal agencies must pay for settlements or judgments against them in whistle-blower and discrimination cases. Currently, such payments are made from a general, government-wide fund.

“It means now the federal government will have to obey its own laws ... not hide behind a slush fund in the Treasury to pay for their indiscretions,” said Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a federal employee who won a $600,000 judgment against the Environmental Protection Agency for racial and gender bias. Her case was the impetus for the law.

The legislation also requires that employees be notified of their rights under antidiscrimination laws, and forces agencies to report annually to Congress about how many discrimination cases were brought against them, what happened in those cases and whether any employees were disciplined.

Last year, some EPA scientists said they were targeted for reprisals after they questioned agency policies. An investigation found that discrimination complaints against federal agencies filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission more than doubled during the 1990s.

“This legislation should stop some of the managers whose actions are like some international outlaw,” said Leroy Warren, board member of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.