Marsha Coleman-Adebayo Returns To Court Re: EPA

EPA Whistleblower Returns to Court with Charges of Agency Retaliation and Discrimination

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo Website

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo will be back in court tomorrow contesting her firing from the Environmental Protection Agency in January 2009 during the transition to the Obama administration. Her Merit Systems Protection Board hearing is scheduled for February 9, 2011 at 9:30 a.m.

Coleman-Adebayo is now defending herself from retaliation and the failure of the agency to provide her with reasonable accommodation as a disabled person. In that case based on race, sex and color discrimination in Coleman-Adebayo v. Carol Browner, the jury found that the agency created a hostile work environment. Because of the years of discrimination, Coleman-Adebayo’s health deteriorated and she alleges that the agency then used the very thing they did to her to fire her. “

According to Adebayo:

"The costs of defending oneself against the U.S. government are staggering. Added to the financial burden are those caused by the continuous stress, the toll it takes on your entire family and the destruction of a career. It is not hard to see why most federal workers keep quiet when they see serious violations. Add the fact that it takes an extremely long time to be heard or very few employees prevail in the systems designed to protect them from government corruption."

EPA was cited as failing to process Title VI discrimination complaints filed against the agency by external groups on environmental issues in a recent case, Rosemere Neighborhood Association v. EPA, of having failed to process some complaints for up to ten years. The appeals court ruling found the agency engaged in a "pattern of delay" in addressing discrimination complaints.

Adebayo continues:

“The agency’s performance in civil rights after my case and passage of the NoFEAR Act in 2002 is abysmal. My case speaks directly to President Obama’s promise of transparency and the need for protecting whistleblowers. I am sure that he did not mean that leaders in his administration should look the other way.”