EPA plans to suspend without pay several of its employees who raised the alarm about the Trump administration’s deregulatory drive.
Agency employees who signed an open dissent letter critical of President Donald Trump’s policies on Thursday received a two-week proposed suspension notice, according to records seen by POLITICO’s E&E News. Union officials at the agency are pledging to fight back on behalf of the staffers, saying the administration is attempting to quash resistance as it reshapes EPA in dramatic fashion.
Michael Ottlinger, president of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 279, which represents EPA employees in the agency’s Cincinnati office, said the agency violated the staffers’ free speech rights “because they simply do not like what was said.”
“Employees addressed matters of public concern,” Ottlinger said. “Their speech took place apart from their workplaces and had no nexus with their official duties.”
