Local
Posted on Wed, Nov. 28, 2007
Hearing starts for former depot worker
HE CLAIMS RETALIATION AFTER SOUNDING ALARM ON ALARMS
By Ashlee Clark
ACLARK@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Donald Van Winkle's promising career at Blue Grass Army Depot was cut short after he raised concerns about air monitoring and employee safety, his attorney, Paula Dinerstein, said yesterday.
Now Van Winkle, who no longer works at the depot in Madison County, is seeking compensation under a federal whistle-blower law that protects employees from retaliation.
A hearing in Van Winkle's case began yesterday before Administrative Law Judge Thomas Phalen of the U.S. Department of Labor. Current and former depot employees are expected to testify.
Kevin Bennett, legal counsel for the depot, said Van Winkle's reprimands were justified.
"To the extent any hostile environment existed, it existed only in his head," he said during opening statements.
Van Winkle, a former air systems monitor, said he became disturbed about procedures at the depot after he and seven other co-workers attended a training session with the manufacturer of a chemical monitoring device used to detect VX, a nerve agent stored at the depot. Van Winkle learned there that the device was being used incorrectly, he said.
He testified that he feared for the safety of depot employees because the equipment couldn't properly monitor VX.
Van Winkle voiced his concerns at a February 2005 meeting. He said supervisors reduced his duties and denied him training, hazard pay, overtime and advancement opportunities.
"It went from sugar to crap like that," he testified.
Van Winkle was also "vilified, mocked and shunned" by his co-workers for his statements, said Dinerstein, senior counsel for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
James Jackson, a witness for the plaintiff and former depot employee, also testified that management and crew members treated Van Winkle differently after he pointed out his concerns.
"I noticed there was a shift," Jackson said. "People were trying to basically avoid him."
He said Bonnie McCoy, a supervisory chemist at the depot, was angry at Van Winkle for his actions. During a February 2005 meeting to discuss Van Winkle's concerns about the monitoring equipment, McCoy "was upset that she was sitting there and didn't have the answer to what was being posed," Jackson testified.
McCoy is expected to testify during the hearing.
The hearing, which is expected to end Thursday, will continue at 9 a.m. today at the University of Kentucky College of Law courtroom.
Reach Ashlee Clark in the Richmond bureau at (859) 626-5878.