The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform took either a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty approach to the May 18 hearing on employee misconduct at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Democrats praised the agency for reforms made to streamline the process to investigate and discipline employees accused of misconduct, while Republicans focused on the nature of it — including theft from the agency and watching porn on government computers.
"Here's one EPA official in Washington, a [General Schedule]-level 15. This guy sat around for years and watched porno and is getting a $125,000 [salary]," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. "Actually, I think he is still on the job. Must be a great job where you can just sit around and collect $125,000 a year."
Committee members questioned how the agency is addressing its discipline policy after a series of salacious and embarrassing scandals uncovered by the inspector general's office in the past two years.
Among the cases reviewed in the hearing by OIG Patrick Sullivan, investigators found:
- At least four cases of employees and one contractor watching porn on EPA-issued computers, sometimes for years.
- A GS-12 public affairs specialist in Atlanta who pawned an EPA-owned video camera was convicted of felony theft and later suspended by the EPA for 30 days, following an appeal.
- An SES-level director in EPA’s Office of Administration and Resources Management who racked up $22,315 in international roaming charges on an EPA-issued cell phone. The travel had not been approved by EPA officials, and the director resigned. EPA officials were still determining how to collect the money.
- An EPA employee arrested for felony marijuana possession after police discovered a growing operation at her residence. She was placed on seven months of paid leave before retiring in October 2014.
- An EPA employee who was also a registered sex offender, but didn't disclose it to the agency, was later accused of looking at child pornography on an EPA-issued computer. The employee was fired, reinstated on appeal and agreed to resign after a settlement with the agency.
Sullivan said his office is critically understaffed to handle the sheer number of cases, including those for employee misconduct.
"In my office, I had an authorized [full-time equivalent] strength of 76 [staff] five years ago. I'm now down to 61,but because of the uncertainty in the budget, I haven't been able to hire back up to 61," he said. "I now have 55 full-time employees, 50 of which are special agents."
Only five of those agents work on misconduct investigations, leaving them to field at least 90 pending cases going on right now.
But Sullivan added that policy reforms put in place by the EPA's Acting Deputy Administrator Stanley Meiburg in the past year — including biweekly meetings between the OIG, the EPA's Office of General Counsel and its Office of Administration and Resources Management — had helped improve the investigation and discipline process.
But the legality of those reforms was called into question when Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., noted that Meiburg, who is serving as both acting deputy administrator and a nominee for the permanent role, can't hold both positions due to an August 2015 court decision regarding the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
"Do you realize that in such a situation, your actions have no force or effect under the law," Gosar said. "You are the COO, you are applying these laws. So basically go away."
The case, SW General v. National Labor Relations Board, has also called into question the actions of Acting OPM Director Beth Cobert and then-acting Army Secretary Eric Fanning.
Meiburg said that he had consulted with counsel and was assured "that my service is lawful." Gosar asked that the name of Meiburg’s counsel be submitted to the record.
Democrats on the committee nevertheless applauded the reforms made by Meiburg and the EPA, including a 10-day limit placed on paid administrative leave for misconduct, and said that due process rights of employees must be upheld.
"You have to hold employees accountable," said Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich. "But every employee is a citizen of these United States. They have rights. I'm glad to hear that you have reviewed these processes to make sure they are consistent, that they are not up to the whim of a manager and that we hold them accountable."
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