On July 3, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) illegally put 139 employees on administrative leave and under investigation.
This was in response to a June 30 Declaration of Dissent by those EPA employees, which accused Trump’s EPA of undermining its own core mission and principles — that it has acted contrary to public and environmental health and safety. The current EPA also ignored peer-reviewed research and EPA-produced scientific assessments according to the employees.
The EPA put 139 of the 278 signatories on administrative leave, accusing the former of “unlawfully undermining the Trump administration’s agenda.” It is not the job or purpose of EPA employees to carry out a president’s agenda. Furthermore, it is illegal for federal workers to be placed under administrative leave for political expression.
To obscure the political nature of this administrative punishment, the EPA sent the following email to the employees placed on leave:
Employees were notified that they had been placed in a “temporary, non-duty, paid status” for the next two weeks, pending an “administrative investigation,” according to a copy of the email obtained by The Associated Press. “It is important that you understand that this is not a disciplinary action,” the email read.
Federal News Network
In an insult to the workers, the EPA notified far-right Breitbart and the Daily Caller before them of the retribution.
