EPA Suspends Dozens of Employees Who Signed Letter of Dissent

About 100 EPA employees who recently signed an open letter criticizing the agency were penalized by being suspended without pay for two weeks on Thursday, according to the workers’ union.

The suspensions come one week after a handful of the roughly 140 Environmental Protection Agency staffers who signed the letter were terminated. In total, nine probationary employees have been fired and six have been issued notices of removal, the American Federation of Government Employees said.

Justin Chen, president of AFGE Council 238, said in a statement that the firings and suspensions are “an attack on free speech and our ability to protect human health and the environment.”

The union is demanding that the EPA bring back the fired employees and revoke any probationary firings, notices of proposed removal, suspensions, and letters of reprimand.

Chen also said the workers “bravely voiced concerns about harmful changes at the agency that threaten the lives of every American.”

Moreover, “we know the administration’s motives are not about government efficiency or advancing public safety,” Chen said.

“Placing these workers on leave and now firing or suspending them months later has wasted over 47,000 work hours and $2 million,” he said. “This is simply about squashing dissent and preventing workers from protecting American lives.”

The EPA declined to comment, with a spokesperson saying the agency doesn’t disclose information about individual personnel matters.

The August dissent letter, addressed to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, said the agency has ignored scientific consensus to benefit polluters, turned its back on environmental justice communities, and promoted “a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.”

The EPA has said it has a zero-tolerance position for employees “using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage, and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November.”

The agency has further said the staffers who signed the letter are only a small fraction of the “thousands of hard-working, dedicated EPA employees who are not trying to mislead and scare the American public.”