OSC recommends bonuses for whistleblowers at Maryland USDA facility

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel this week mostly substantiated the allegations of Agriculture Department whistleblowers who called attention to poor working conditions at the dilapidated Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland and recommended the department offer them bonuses.

The saga dates back more than two years to when Building 007 at the 6,000-acre facility flooded for the second time in the span of five years, when, after a fruitless meeting with officials over the inadequate cleanup effort, officials with the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3147 filed whistleblower complaints with OSC. OSC in June of 2023 found a “substantial likelihood” of wrongdoing on the part of management in connection with the case and ordered USDA to conduct an investigation into the matter.

In its final report, sent to President Trump more than a year after USDA concluded its investigation, OSC substantiated most of the whistleblowers’ allegations, including the existence of “pervasive” safety problems at many of BARC’s buildings, that employees lacked the tools necessary maintain and repair buildings, and that facilities management workers lacked the training needed to address the facility’s many issues.

“The agency’s investigation largely substantiated the whistleblowers’ allegations, finding pervasive safety deficiencies in many of the facilities and structures at BARC, including a general lack of housekeeping; excessive dirt and grime; flaking and peeling paint; damaged flooring; active and post flooding and other water intrusions; mold; and a lack of potable water,” wrote Charles Baldis, senior counsel at OSC. “The agency determined that because the facility did not have Operation and Maintenance plans or a current Facility Master Plan for its infrastructure, staff were merely reacting to problems after they occurred.”

Last year, then-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack diverted $50 million, originally set aside in the department’s budget for a new Agricultural Research Service building, to pay for repairs and modernization efforts at BARC leading to remediation of several issues at the site.

“Agency leadership established an oversight and support team and an executive response team to provide USDA and ARS oversight to the response efforts and ensure timely and successful completion of the 60 recommended corrective actions,” OSC wrote. “To date, many corrective actions have been completed; for example, a new permanent BARC director has been selected, and the executive response team has developed a new BARC master plan to plan, prioritize and modernize future workspace and aligned the new master plan with ARS 2024 capital investment strategy.”

One whistleblower allegation not substantiated by USDA’s investigation was that the poor conditions at the facility resulted in the loss and improper handling of scientific equipment and research data.

“The agency explained that although the investigative team concluded that the condition of the facilities damaged scientific equipment, derailed and delayed research studies, and resulted in increased costs to research operations at BARC, they found no evidence of irretrievable research loss and, thus, could not substantiate the allegation,” the report states.

But the whistleblowers, in comments submitted to OSC prior to the final report’s publication, “wholeheartedly” disagreed with that finding, arguing that while the loss of data or detriment to research caused by the poor conditions were not necessarily “irretrievable,” the cost and time required to remediate those problems is not incidental.

“This report did substantiate severe impacts on research and its cost for taxpayers, as evidenced by their own observations,” the whistleblowers wrote. “Issues at BARC could/can take months/years to address (if ever). The constant redirection of resources (money, personnel, etc.) and delays in implementation costs taxpayers money.”

Baldis, acting as the “designee” of President Trump’s acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer, recommended that USDA reward the whistleblowers for their work uncovering problems at the facility.

"I thank the whistleblowers for bringing these allegations to OSC,” he wrote. “Given the significance of the whistleblowers’ disclosures and the agency’s comprehensive response, OSC recommends that the USDA recognize their contributions to improve government efficiency and the safety of BARC workers and consider issuing a monetary award to them.”

In a statement Friday, AFGE National President Everett Kelley applauded OSC’s findings and USDA’s efforts to improve conditions at BARC once the union officials filed their whistleblower complaints.

 “The work to begin addressing these critical and costly safety issues at our country’s top USDA research facility would not have happened if not for our members risking their careers and reputations to blow the whistle on the agency,” Kelley said. “In their roles as elected union officers, these three USDA employees used the official time allocated to them under the law to expose these egregious safety violations.”

Kelley argued that this case serves as an example of how agencies will degrade in the absence of federal employee unions and revocation of official time, the practice by which federal employees elected into union posts are paid by agencies for representational work, like participating in negotiations, counseling employees or filing grievances and whistleblower complaints.

In March, Trump signed an executive order aimed at outlawing collective bargaining—and by extension, official time—for roughly two-thirds of the federal workforce on national security grounds. That edict has since been enjoined by a federal judge.

And on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans sought to include a provision charging federal employee unions for their use of government property and for the salaries of union officials while they are on official time in their version of the budget reconciliation package. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled over the weekend that the proposal violates the Byrd rule, which aims to ensure reconciliation provisions are budgetary in nature.

“At a time when many of our political leaders are trying to gut union rights and workplace protections for career federal workers, our success here validates how employees can make a huge difference in addressing government waste, fraud and mismanagement when they don’t fear for their jobs and are protected from retaliation,” Kelley said.