The good that can come from whistleblowers doing what they do can come in many forms. Sometimes, the information that whistleblowers bring out into the open brings awareness to safety risks, some of which could be life-threatening if they are allowed to persist. One such situation happened recently when a whistleblower exposed fuel risks that could endanger the lives of Navy pilots and other people.
The whistleblower, Glenn Schwartz, was a civilian aeronautical engineering technician. Schwartz got fired recently but not before he exposed the fuel safety risks and other serious hazards. He said that his managers placed him in a position that he was underqualified for, and that they attempted to qualify him by providing on the job training that could not adequately prepare him with the training and knowledge that he needed to safely perform the highly technical work that he was performing in his job. Schwartz’s job was calibrating equipment that gets used to test weapons systems and aircraft support equipment, which is certainly not a job that just anybody can do.
Not only is Schwartz unqualified, his placement in the position that he got placed in violated Navy regulations that specify in detail the credentials that are required to get qualified for certain positions. Unfortunately, Schwartz wasn’t the only individual who got placed in a position that they were unqualified to fill. There are others at the Fleet Readiness Center- East and the Metrology and Calibration Laboratory who lack the training, experience, and education that they need to perform their work properly. When you consider the work that gets done at these facilities – maintaining Navy aircraft and testing weapons systems, it is easy to see the safety risks posed by unqualified workers performing jobs that they do not know how to do properly. Those safety risks are the reason that the Navy has detailed regulations regarding qualifications for positions, and Schwartz played a significant role in exposing his employer’s violations of those rules.
The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is investigating Schwartz’s firing, as it was possibly an act of retaliation against him. He got fired in early June, and his attorney says that the reasons cited for his dismissal, which is mostly related to attendance procedures, are things that would not usually get cited as a reason for dismissing someone. That assertion would support a conclusion that Schwartz’s firing was retaliatory, but it is important to note that the OSC’s investigation into the matter is not yet complete.
The Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC support whistleblowers in their efforts to keep people safe and expose dishonesty, misconduct, and even violations of the law. The consequences of exposing wrongdoing in your workplace can be harsh, but your actions could make a significant and potentially life-saving difference in the lives of others, as Mr. Schwartz’s situation illustrates. If you want to learn more about whistleblower claims, call 1 (800) 707-9577 to arrange an initial consultation with the Mississippi Whistleblower attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC.