By Mary Beth Sheridan

Friday, February 15, 2008

A U.S. appeals court ordered a federal merit board yesterday to consider whether former Park Police chief Teresa C. Chambers was unfairly targeted as a whistleblower when she was fired in 2004.

Chambers was ousted after telling The Washington Post that her police force was strained by providing stepped-up protection for national monuments after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in addition to its work patrolling parks and highways.

A federal civil service merit board upheld her removal in 2006. Chambers then took her case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

In its decision yesterday, the court upheld the merit board’s findings of several charges of misconduct against Chambers. It also said that removing her from her job was “a reasonable penalty” for such actions as failing to follow the chain of command.

But it also ruled that the merit board had erred in deciding that the Whistleblower Protection Act didn’t apply to her case and sent it back for reconsideration. The appeals court said that the merit board must consider a broader standard, reviewing the public safety issues Chambers raised with the media as well as her disagreements with Park Police budget policy. Chambers contends she was protected as a whistle-blower for flagging dangers.

“While Chambers certainly expressed a disagreement with a policy decision, she also potentially disclosed a danger to public safety that may have resulted from that decision,” the decision said.

Chambers said she was heartened by the decision, although it wasn’t a reversal of the Merit Systems Protection Board’s ruling.

“I think it’s critical for all of us that our federal employees can have some measure of protection when they speak out about issues that affect our safety,” she said.

A National Park Service spokesman, Dave Barna, declined to comment, saying the matter involved a personnel issue in litigation.

Chambers, the first woman to head the Park Police, led the force from February 2002 until she was suspended in December 2003 and subsequently fired. She recently became police chief in Riverdale Park in Prince George’s County.

A recent report by the Interior Department’s inspector general said the Park Police is still plagued by some of the problems Chambers highlighted.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/14/AR2008021403431_pf.html

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or check out our talk-back forum. Thanks for your support!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 8:52 pm and is filed under OSC Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.