March 17, 2014

JUDGE DROPS DEPT. OF ENERGY FROM TAMOSAITIS LAWSUIT

By ExchangeMonitor

A federal judge late last week dismissed the Department of Energy from a lawsuit filed by Walter Tamosaitis, a former contractor executive at the Hanford Waste Project who is fighting his removal from the project. Tamosaitis, who previously served as the manager of research and technology at the WTP, has alleged that he was removed from working on the project in the summer of 2010 for raising safety concerns—allegations that have been denied by WTP project contractor Bechtel National and subcontractor URS, for which Tamosaitis works. Last fall, Tamosaitis filed a lawsuit over his removal against DOE, URS Energy and Construction and its parent company, URS Corp.

In a May 24 order, U.S. District Court Judge Lonny Suko granted DOE’s motion to be dismissed from Tamosaitis’ lawsuit with prejudice. According to Suko, Tamosaitis failed to fully exhaust administrative remedies against DOE before filing his suit and Tamosaitis could not show he was a DOE employee, as necessary under the Energy Reorganization Act’s whistleblower protections. In addition, the court did not have the authority to grant the relief Tamosaitis had requested, according to Suko. In his suit, Tamosaitis did not ask for money, but instead asked to be reinstated to a leadership position at the WTP, as well as to have DOE be ordered not to pressure employees and contractors to take positions not based on scientific principles and to have DOE be ordered to develop a plan to ensure that managers balance meeting deadlines with sound science.

Tamosaitis’ attorney, Jack Sheridan, indicated yesterday that he would appeal Suko’s decision to dismiss DOE. “We asked the federal judge to give deference to the Secretary of Labor’s view that DOE may be considered an employer of a contractor whistleblower employee if DOE interferes with the terms and conditions of that employee’s employment. The judge chose not to do that, so now it will up to the Court of Appeals in San Francisco to decide whose view of the law is correct,” Sheridan said in a written response. For its part, URS Corp. has also filed a motion to dismiss Tamosaitis’ suit, which has yet to be ruled upon. Previously, a Washington state court dismissed a suit Tamosaitis filed against Bechtel National over his removal from the WTP, though that ruling is being appealed.

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