#Whistleblowing

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A group of 14 conservative lawmakers in both chambers of Congress last week reintroduced legislation that would make the federal government an at-will employer and abolish the Merit Systems Protection Board, effectively eviscerating federal workers’ civil service protections and chilling whistleblowing.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., are the lead sponsors of the Public Service Reform Act (H.R. 3115), which would make career federal workers at-will employees and get rid of most of the avenues currently available to appeal adverse personnel decisions. It also would abolish the MSPB and send most appeals directly to federal appellate courts, although it preserves a 14-day window for whistleblowers to allege retaliation before the Office of Special Counsel.

“It is far past time to reinstate accountability to the people for the federal bureaucracy by requiring that like any private sector employee, federal workers can be removed from their positions,” Roy said in a statement. “Notwithstanding the majority of federal workers who faithfully serve, especially our law enforcement personnel, we should not allow a wall of red tape to shield those engaged in noncompliance with the law and brazen political partisanship. Federal employees should keep their jobs based on merit, just like the people they serve.”

The bill also allows for federal workers to appeal adverse personnel actions they believe were discriminatory to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, although the legislation requires EEOC to scrap its policies relating to the federal workforce and apply private sector rules to the proceedings.

And it creates a disincentive to federal workers filing appeals of their firings through a provision that says that if a court finds a complaint to be “frivolous” or otherwise “brought in bad faith,” the employee’s defined benefit annuity is automatically reduced by 25%.

“It’s clear that the bureaucracy of the federal government is both a waste of taxpayer dollars and inefficient,” Scott said in a statement. “Red tape and bloated federal agencies constantly slow down progress and hamper American innovation. It’s time to change Washington so it actually works for the American people. The Public Service Reform Act will boost accountability and responsiveness across the federal government by making all executive branch employees at-will.”

Roy previously introduced his bill last July, but with Democrats in control of the House, it languished. With a divided Congress, its chance of passage now remains low. But the bill has gained support, with the number of initial cosponsors growing from 5 to 14.

Between this legislation and other initiatives gaining steam within the Republican party, including a proposed revival of Schedule F, which has already been endorsed by The Heritage Foundation, former President Trump and other likely GOP presidential candidates, it is clear that efforts to upend the federal civil service have become a central plank of the party’s platform. These plans, along with early signs of a push to declare federal employee unions unconstitutional, suggest “truly epic storm clouds” are on the horizon, according to Don Kettl, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and former dean of its School of Public Policy.

“It’s inconceivable that a major Republican candidate would stake out a position any more favorable to federal employees,” Kettl wrote. “[Conservatives] are offering two tracks for remedies: executive action, especially through a revival of Schedule F; and judicial cases, especially through challenges to the role of public employee unions and, even more fundamentally, to the role of the merit system itself.”

[lasseling]

The British government has quietly passed a draconian new law that makes whistleblowing illegal in the United Kingdom.

[abitw]

Another Brick in the Wall

Check out this new blog: https://abitw1.wordpress.com/

[aktionfsa-blog-blog]

Bußgeld wegen Liste mit sensiblen Daten

Was darf eine Arbeitgeberin?

In unserem Wirtschaftssystem ist das eine ganze Menge: Sie hat ein Weisungsrecht, kann die Arbeit verteilen und anordnen, aber sie darf dazu keine Listen mit sensiblen Daten der Beschäftigten anlegen - besonders dann nicht, wenn diese Daten dazu genutzt werden sollen ArbeitnehmerInnen zu diskriminieren oder gar auszusortieren.

Deshalb hat die Berliner Datenschutzbeauftragte Meike Kamp nun ein Bußgeld über 215.000 Euro gegen den Dienstleister Humboldt Forum Service GmbH in der Stiftung Humboldt Forum verhängt. Diese Firma soll eine Art schwarze Liste über Mitarbeiter in der Probezeit geführt haben.

Darin wurde für mögliche Kündigungen zum Ende der Probezeit unzulässigerweise vermerkt:

sensible Informationen über den Gesundheitszustand einzelner Beschäftigter,

ob gesundheitliche und außerbetriebliche Gründe einer flexiblen Schichteinteilung entgegenstehen,

die regelmäßige Teilnahme an einer Psychotherapie,

das Interesse der KollegInnen an einer Betriebsratsgründung.

Hätte in der Firma schon ein Betriebsrat bestanden, hätte dieser die Geschäftsführung auf seine illegale Handlung aufmerksam machen und diese unterbinden können. Ob der Bußgeldbescheid in dieser Höhe rechtskräftig wird, muss sich noch zeigen.

Wichtig ist in jedem Fall, dass die Berliner Datenschutzbehörde tätig geworden ist. Auch wichtig ist, dass der Vorgang überhaupt bekannt geworden ist. Er wurde von der Stiftung Humboldt Forum an die Datenschutzbeauftragte gemeldet. Danke den Whistleblowern!

Mehr dazu bei https://www.rbb24.de/wirtschaft/beitrag/2023/08/datenschuetzerin-verhaengt-bussgeld-wegen-liste-zu-mitarbeitern-.html

Kategorie[21]: Unsere Themen in der Presse Short-Link dieser Seite: a-fsa.de/d/3vt Link zu dieser Seite: https://www.aktion-freiheitstattangst.org/de/articles/8480-20230803-bussgeld-wegen-liste-mit-sensiblen-daten.htm

[crinaboros]

A matter of facts, rebels and leaked documents: Competing Romania illegal logging fact-finding missions advance amid rumours EU infringement could be dropped

Article supported by an IJ4EU grant for independent reporting

by Crina-Gabriela Boroş

(Photo: Clearcut in Natura 2000 site from where FSC-certified wood is being exploited in Fagaras mountains, Romania, May 16 2023. Clearcuts are illegal in Natura 2000 sites. Copyrighted - all rights reserved.)

‘These guys are approving logging without any idea whether that logging would damage a key habitat or a species!’

This is the reason environmental activists quote when asked why they’re winning court cases against public authorities permitting logging in Natura 2000 sites in Romania. Yet, despite EU infringements and complaints, saws are louder than birds in protected forests. In a pre-European Parliamentary election year, are current facts sufficient for the EU to take Romania to the European Court of Justice?

Just days ago, a European Parliament Petition (PETI) delegation visited Romania following an illegal logging complaint, as well as a list of other habitat destruction complaints that have forest destruction as common denominator. Delegates chose a press-proofed route to witness that “everything was well and under control” in Romania’s forests, as Environment Minister Barna Tánczos would tell them in his welcoming speech.

Stopped from witnessing what PETI does, we accompanied rebel MEPs and environmental activists to allegedly protected sites to observe “unfolding crime” and reveal a catalogue of forest management irregularities.

LORDS OF TIMBER is a project supported by an IJ4EU grant for independent reporting, managed by the European Journalism Centre and the International Press Institute. This is one article in a series exposing aspects tied to EU’s “famous” “environmental” infringement.

Notorious

“Romania faces several challenges with respect to the implementation of the nature protection Directives”, an EU Environment Commission (DG ENVI) official said just a few weeks ago, “but this is the famous one!”. She means the illegal logging matter raised by the Commission.

EU’s infringements database is, in fact, chokablok with environmental charges against Romania, like pus leaking from a wound that won’t heal.

Read the article in full on PRESSHub - https://presshub.ro/a-matter-of-facts-rebels-and-leaked-documents-competing-romania-illegal-logging-fact-finding-missions-advance-amid-rumours-ue-infrigment-could-be-dropped-273480/

LORDS OF TIMBER is a project supported by an IJ4EU grant for independent reporting, managed by the European Journalism Centre and the International Press Institute. This is one article in a series exposing aspects tied to EU’s “famous” “environmental” infringement.

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

          Julian Assange has been detained at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison, one of the UK's toughest detention centers, since 2019. The WikiLeaks founder has long since completed his original 50-week sentence for skipping bail in 2012. But he has remained in custody ever since, in extremely harsh conditions, in what is essentially detention pending deportation. If the judges deny her husband the chance to launch another round of appeals, Assange's wife and lawyer, Stella, fears the worst. "Julian's life depends on him winning this," she said, in an interview with DW.

[slayer-of-titans]

Why I Left Sarasota Memorial Hospital

I have decided to post in length my story about my experience at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and why I left my job there. I know it may seem somewhat personal, but I want to spread awareness of the corruption among management there. One might be able to see what I'm doing as "whistleblowing" because it involves retaliation (which is against company policy) and making my job so bad in order for me to quit (pretty sure that's against OSHA guidelines or something).

There was one incident on June 1 when a nurse snapped at me and I approached her afterward and told her that she could have been less condescending. I was willing to let it go after I got that off my chest, but then she grabbed the executive director to mediate. Granted, I did not even know who she was. Her name tag said that she had an LMSW so I assumed that she was one of the social workers but it turned out that she was actually the executive director. Anyway, she talked down on me, told me that I was being inappropriate and that nurses are above me and that they do not need to explain themselves. Whenever I tried to explain my side of the story, she kept interrupting. She also kept asking me if this was my first job like this, and I explained multiple times that it is not as I have worked at a behavioral health center for a year (and was continuing to work there PRN). I also have a bachelor's in psychology which IS indicated on my name tag so I don't place myself that far beneath the nurses since I have education relevant to my job as well. I did cry a little afterward because of the way that I was treated but not in front of patients or anything.

Everything still seemed fine after that until one day when I was called upstairs at the start of my shift. The DON told me that in two weeks I was being moved to the overnight shift, stating that they needed more females on that shift and that since I was in my first 90 days, they were allowed to do this. I asked to see the policy that allows her to do this and she said that she would show it to me later but she never did. They claimed that the move was only temporary but that they could not give me a time frame. They also implied that I had the opportunity to move back to second shift after but it sounded like they could keep me there permanently if that is where they wanted me. Keep in mind that I was interviewed and hired for the 3-11 shift.

I used to work overnight at my last job so I know that I can't handle being nocturnal. It had a negative impact on my physical and mental health. I told the DON this, and still offered to help out by picking up some overnight shifts, but she would not let up and said that I needed to be flexible. She did also admit that this was partially in retaliation for my run in with that nurse but told me that this would have happened anyway. She also did not understand why I had gotten upset, thinking I was upset with a patient who was acting out. Everybody who works with me at Palm Shores knows that this is nowhere near enough to bother me. When I explained the real reason why I was upset, she explained to me that nurses just get short sometimes due to the stress of their jobs and that I just have to put up with it.

I was obviously upset after that and my co-workers at Bayside (the building at the hospital that I worked at) who had worked there for years told me that they had never heard of someone being forced to change shifts before. They encouraged me to tell the DON that if she wanted me to work there, that I would be on the shift I was hired for. When I said this, she smiled and said "Then I have no choice but to accept your two-weeks notice." I also pointed out that if she lost me, she would be short someone for second shift and still need someone to work third as well. She did not care. So she would have rather lost me completely than allow me to continue working second shift full time.

I called my manager at my old job and offered to come back full time on first or second shift and then also contacted HR at Sarasota Memorial about my situation. HR responded with multiple behavioral concerns filed against me, most of which happened AFTER they informed me I was being switched to overnights.One of the behavioral concerns was against me crying after they told me I was being moved to overnight shifts. But of course I cried about that. They railroaded me with that at the start of my shift and they weren't just making me change my shift but my entire lifestyle. They also alleged that I had walked away from a 1:1 even though I had another tech step in for me. The HR person also did not even know what a 1:1 is. Go figure.

HR said they would get back to me and immediately after the call my manager at Palm Shores offered me a full time first shift. This seemed like a clear sign from the universe so I accepted. I called back and had to leave a message saying that I no longer wished to work there but still offered to work my shift that day so that the ratio would not be short. When I arrived, the DON left me a message saying that she did not even want me to work that day so I just turned in my keys. My old job, on the other hand, welcomed me back warmly with open arms.

Could I have at least put in my two weeks? Yes, but that would have given the DON two more weeks to sabotage me and try to make my time there miserable. Sometimes, it is actually better to quit without notice, especially when you are in such a toxic environment.

Edit: forgot to mention that I've looked at other reviews on Indeed and found the following:

"Management focused on being punitive rather than encouraging and morale driven. New upper management at Bayside Behavioral Health is deceitful, threatening and retaliatory. HR does not intervene until flooded with complaints. Then they do the bare minimum. In any other state the environment would be consistent with bulling and a hostile work environment. Constantly being told by the DON that she has free will to fire anyone. No process or protocol followed, she just says your fired. New facility director has no clue and is being hand fed by the DON negative and derogatory lies about staff in which she has now lost all credibility with staff and lacks any leadership connection."

[driftwoodwavemotion]

xxxxMarissaEdgar: This is my husband, Ralphiel Battousai Balthazar-Edgar. We were born married in Heaven. We are thousands of years old. I command you now in the name of Vallhalla to leave us alone, you Harbringers of the Apocalypse. We have never ignored each other due to your false restraining order, and make love every night. He turns invisible and has a huge phallus that gives me multiple orgasms daily and nightly. My vagina is so tight it could crush a herd of buffalo. But I wouldn't because I'm Navajo.

[ryanwclement]

"WHISTLEBLOWING" IN EMPLOYMENT AND THE WORKPLACE

by Ryan Clement IN THIS ARTICLE, I am going to discuss, ‘Whistleblowing,’ from an employment perspective.  FIRST THING to make clear are two things. It’s not about actually blowing a whistle to one’s employer, although, of course, there is nothing in law preventing a worker from doing so when disclosing information about a wrongdoing. Second, which might come as a surprise to some people. If…

[avvocatofedericaliparoti]

[n1kk11-blog]

You matter, seek safety from the violence you may be experiencing now please. From alcohol or drugs, mental or physical abuse. It's their fault /his fault. Seek your family or friend or neighbor and seek a safe place snd far distance away from the abuser immediately please.

[aktionfsa-blog-blog]

Wir danken Edward Snowden!

10 Jahre Snowden Enthüllungen

Heute vor 10 Jahren war sein Name in aller Welt zu lesen - Edward Snowden befand sich auf der Flucht von Honkong nach Equador. Seine Reise endete mit dem Schritt der US Regierung seinen Pass für ungültig zu erklären beim Umsteigen auf dem Moskauer Flughafen. Nach einigen Wochen im Flughafen gewährte ihm Russland Asyl. Alle seine späteren Asylanträge an mehr als 20 Staaten auf der Welt wurden dagegen abschlägig beschieden. Kein anderes Land auf der Welt wagte es, sich gegen die USA zu stellen.

Heute vor 5 Jahren begingen wir den Tag mit einer "Nerdic Party" im Anti-Kriegscafé COOP und feierten seine Enthüllungen über die Überwachung der Menschen durch die US Geheimdienste. 

Nach weiteren 5 Jahren hat sich für ihn die Situation kaum verbessert. Aber auch die Überwachungsmaßnahmen sind keineswegs geringer, eher mehr geworden. Gesetzesinitiativen - wenige in den USA, einige in Deutschland wurden zerredet oder so umgestrickt, dass sie praktisch genau das erlauben, was vorher verboten war.

Auch die Ergebnisse der Geheimdienst-Untersuchungsausschüsse wurde nur mit Schwärzungen bekannt gegeben. Hier ist es netzpolitik.org zu verdanken, dass z.B. der NSA-Abschlussbericht - mit 1.822 Seiten fast ohne die Schwärzungen zugänglich gemacht wurde. Bis zu einem immer noch verbesserungswürdigen Whistleblower Gesetz in der EU und Deutschland hat es weitere 5 Jahre gedauert.

Einer der wichtigsten Whistleblower, der Journalist Julian Assange, ist seit 13 Jahren seiner Freiheit beraubt, sitzt nun seit mehr als 3 Jahren ohne Anklage in einem britischen Hochsicherheitsgefängnis und soll nun tatsächlich in die USA und damit in den Tod ausgeliefert werden.

Auch wegen dieser vielen Verschlechterungen werden wir in diesem Jahr keine Neuauflage der "Nerdic Party" veranstalten. Wir möchten aber erneut auf die Enthüllungen von Edward Snowden hinweisen - die alten immer noch aktuellen von 2013, wie PRISM, Tempora, der Dampfdruckkochtopf und die 15.000 "bösen Worte" - und auch auf seine Arbeit der letzten 10 Jahre und wie er z.B. in seinem Buch "Permanent Record" beschreibt, was ihn bewogen hat beim Geheimdienst zu arbeiten und was ihn zu seinen Enthüllungen gebracht hat.

Immerhin haben seine Enthüllungen eine große Anzahl von Menschen zu Nachdenken gebracht, welche Daten sie mit ihren Aktivitäten in die Welt setzen. Auch die DSGVO der EU konnte sich nur in den damaligen Diskussionen über die ungesetzliche Verwendung unserer Daten entwickeln.

Leider hat sich - wie üblich - über alle diese Erkenntnisse der Schleier des Vergessens gelegt und die Geheimdienste konnten ihre Praktiken fast ungebremst weiterentwickeln. Es gibt also keinen Grund zum Jubeln, aber wir danken unserem Ehrenmitglied dafür, dass er mit seiner Entscheidung für die Wahrheit dafür gesorgt hat, dass aus den lange bestehenden Vermutungen nun traurige Gewissheit geworden ist. Alle Menschen können jederzeit bei allen ihren Aktivitäten verfolgt werden.

Mehr dazu bei https://www.aktion-freiheitstattangst.org/de/articles/6501-20180605-aktion-freiheit-statt-angst-ev-feiert-5-jahre-snowden-enthuellungen.html

Kategorie[27]: Polizei&Geheimdienste Short-Link dieser Seite: a-fsa.de/d/3uw Link zu dieser Seite: https://www.aktion-freiheitstattangst.org/de/articles/8425-20230610-wir-danken-edward-snowden.htm

[wildstarnetworks]

Just so we're all aware, I have never signed an NDA for this company. Everything I say is completely factual. For obvious reasons, I will not be stating what my position in the company was, as WildStar is a very small company and it would be hilariously easy to find out who this account belongs to.

With that out of the way, I will be posting things about WSN that most people will never know. This will be a look behind the curtain, so to speak.

On its face, WSN is a decent enough company, with our mission to bring high-speed wireless internet to rural areas and for the most part, we do. . . . Eventually. That's another post for another day. This is just my introduction.