The Hanford Site whistleblower case of Walt Ford will be heard this week after Bechtel National objected to the July 30 findings of a Department of Labor investigation. A Benton County courtroom has been reserved for the hearing from Tuesday to Friday. Ford was laid off at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in November 2011 after repeatedly raising safety issues during his 35 years at the Department of Energy site. The Labor Department issued a preliminary order requiring Bechtel to pay him $25,000, plus wages of about $4,500 a month for four and a half months and $7,070 in attorney fees. Bechtel said that a significant percentage of the craft workforce at the vitrification plant was laid off in 2011 and 2012 as construction was suspended at the plant’s Pretreatment Facility and much of the High-Level Waste Facility. Ford, a millwright, was among those laid off.
The Labor Department investigation agreed that Ford likely would have lost his job in one of six waves of layoffs, but said he “was scrutinized and treated more harshly than other employees.” He was selected for layoff in the first round. Because he likely would have lost his job eventually, the Department of Labor did not find that Bechtel needed to rehire him, as Ford had requested. URS, since acquired by AECOM, also was named in Ford’s complaint because it did not give him a job he applied for after the layoff. The investigation found that others were better qualified for the position. The department’s ruling will not be considered at this week’s hearing, but Bechtel National said in a statement it is confident that “a full review of the evidence will demonstrate that we carried out the layoff properly and followed all relevant labor regulations.”
