DOE says, "Changes in Employee Benefits Do Not Constitute Gross Mismanagement"
A former UT-Battelle employee was demoted and eventually fired allegedly for "willful misconduct, failure to follow proper procedure, and loss of confidence", after she complained about a UT-Battelle announcement to discontinue all health insurance offerings except for its high deductible health plan (HDHP). Her appeal to the DOE OHA was denied. The DOE OHA noted the UT-Battelle move to a HDHP only health coverage was a "day-to-day" contractor matter and outside of Part 708 protections.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/05/f74/WBU-20-0005.pdf
3 comments:
Maybe it's not right, but is perfectly legal. Complain and/or find another job.
The takeaway here is employees of DOE contractors are basically on their own, period. Perhaps we should not be so displeased with SPSE or other organizations that have always tried to lift all employee boats. Why? Because forced acceptance of this or similar benefit reductions may eventually bite us at LLNL or LANL too.
SPSE did not try to lift all employee boats. When I came to the lab in 1974 I asked about joining and was told that as a 500 series tech, I could not join, not a scientist or engineer. Fast forward to the contract change 30+ years later they came to realize I wasn't worthless trash anymore and were open to their club. By that time, my interest in them had ceased to exist.
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