North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality illegally retaliated against employee, investigation finds

BISMARCK — A federal whistleblower investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has come to the conclusion that an environmental scientist from the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality was illegally retaliated against after reporting safety concerns regarding the public water system.

The U.S. Department of Labor wrote in a Wednesday, Aug. 23, press release that the scientist raised concerns with management and ultimately the Environmental Protection Agency and as a result faced retaliation from the Department of Environmental Quality. The Department of Labor did not publicize the employee’s name, noting it does not release names of those involved in whistleblower complaints.

The Department of Labor “determined the Department of Environmental Quality’s actions violated federal law that protects employees who share water safety information and ordered the department to remove the written reprimand from the employee’s personnel file,” the release said.

The employee worked for the Department of Environmental Quality for over seven years and brought concerns to supervisors across a six-month period. Those concerns were eventually articulated to the EPA. On July 1, 2022, the employee received a written reprimand for contacting the EPA.

Both the department and the employee may file objections or request a hearing with the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.