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Norton Gets Whistleblower Protection for Airport Screeners and Other TSA Workers

Date: June 29, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Transportation Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Norton Gets Whistleblower Protection for Airport Screeners and Other TSA Workers June 29, 2006

—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today was successful in restoring whistleblower protection rights to 45,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees as the Government Reform Committee today reported out a bill that included Norton language for such protections. Baggage screeners lost whistleblower rights when TSA was moved into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). However, Norton, who is also a Member of the Homeland Security Committee, offered an amendment to the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act to assure these rights for screeners. "Screeners, more than most federal employees, must have these rights because whistleblowers in this area could have vital security information in their hands and must not face retaliation for stepping forward," Norton said.

Initially, Congress believed that the airport screeners were covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act even after they became a part of DHS. However, an unforeseen loophole left screeners out, and Norton continued to press the point. In September, she offered an amendment that extended whistleblower rights to screeners, subsequently expanded to all of TSA, including baggage screeners and their supervisors, resulting in the even more far-reaching bill reported out of Government Reform today.

The Congresswoman, a former Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has had considerable experience with the retaliation protections in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and has long fought for the rights of federal workers. "Allowing employees to work in an environment without a cloud of retaliation over their heads if they report fraud, waste and abuse, and especially threats to security, is not only their right," Norton said, "this is a protection first and foremost to the public interest."

http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=6

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