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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Whistleblower To Get Back Pay

Compiled From Wire Services

The federal government has ordered the former lead contractor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to give a whistleblower about seven months of back pay.

The U.S. Department of Labor ordered Westinghouse Hanford to pay the back wages, plus fringe benefits, to Inez Austin.

“The check will not satisfy me and I will not cash it until I’m told by an attorney that it’s the smart thing to do,” Austin said Tuesday.

“If all Westinghouse is sending me is seven months of back pay and they think I’ll walk away, well it ain’t going to happen,” she said, adding she may pursue the case in court.

Westinghouse had five days to appeal the Labor Department ruling but let the deadline pass. Westinghouse disagreed with the ruling and contends Austin quit her job. But a spokesman said the firm agreed to settle in the “spirit of cooperation.”

The ruling is the latest in a dispute between Austin and Westinghouse Hanford that has raged since 1990.

Austin claims she was fired Feb. 29 from her $54,000 a year job as a supervisor at a tank farm containing radioactive wastes from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Westinghouse contended she quit by walking off the job and refusing to apply for a new job when the tank farm division was reorganized.

She filed a complaint with the Labor Department after her claim for unemployment compensation was denied by state Employment Security officials.

Then Austin, and fellow whistleblowers Sonja Anderson and Gai Oglesbee - who also claimed they lost their jobs at Hanford earlier this year in retaliation for raising safety or health concerns - took their complaints to Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary in April.

O’Leary met with the women and then ordered hearings and put their dismissals on hold.