Donna Busche, a former nuclear safety manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, is looking to drop a lawsuit she filed against WTP contractor Bechtel National and subcontractor URS alleging she faced retaliation for raising concerns. Busche filed her suit in early 2013 after more than a year went by without the Department of Labor taking action on a whistleblower complaint she had submitted. Late last week, though, attorneys for Busche filed a motion to dismiss her suit “with prejudice,” noting that she had filed a second complaint with the Dept. of Labor in November alleging additional acts of retaliation and plans to submit a new complaint following her recent termination from URS, for which she worked. Both Bechtel National and URS have repeatedly denied, though, that Busche faced harassment or retaliation for raising safety or concerns while working at the Hanford vit plant.
In a written response yesterday, Busche said she is looking to drop her lawsuit to “streamline related actions of retaliation and harassment by BNI and URS and consolidate my resources for ongoing investigations.” She said, “The current complaint with the Department of Labor is being updated to include additional actions of harassment and retaliation by BNI and URS since filing the DOL complaint in November of 2013 up to the wrongful termination in February 2014. Once the dismissal is granted, I can focus on the ongoing DOL investigation, ongoing DOE Office of Inspector General investigation, and planned review by the Government Accountability Office into the facts and circumstances of my termination.” Both Bechtel National and URS declined to comment on Busche’s effort to drop her lawsuit yesterday.