This is written by:
Andrew Noyes,
PlanetOut Network
In March, a coalition of whistleblower protection and civil rights groups filed a complaint against the former ethics attorney for violating the very nondiscrimination laws his office is charged with enforcing.
Documents acknowledging that the probe would begin were released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) on Tuesday. In recent months, the case has been supplemented with new allegations against Bloch for supplying misleading information to Congress and misusing his office to support a person espousing creationist views even though the Office of the Special Counsel had no jurisdiction in the matter, PEER said. Bloch previously served as deputy director for the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives.
Violations against Bloch include failing to uphold the long-standing interpretation of federal law that protects federal civil service employees from discrimination based upon sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign, one of the organizations that lodged the complaint.
According to PEER, the grievance specified instances of illegal gag orders, cronyism, invidious discrimination and retaliation in forcing the resignations of a number of his legal and investigative staff. The White House and the Office of Personnel Management's director Linda Springer have stated that federal law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in government jobs.
"No bureaucrat has the right to single-handedly roll back decades-old protections for workers securing our homeland and protecting our nation's health," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. He said OPM's Inspector General should reel in a "renegade appointee" who has "ignored the law to satisfy his own extremist agenda."
It seems this isn't the first time some one has tried to make things their way or not at all.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
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