Army Ordered to Initiate Corrective Action in Landmark Whistleblower Case

On October 31, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) ruled that the Department of the Army had constructively suspended a contracting officer after she blew the whistle on systemic contracting fraud occurring within the Army Corps of Engineers Huntsville, Alabama Support Center. The ruling reverses an earlier ruling by an administrative judge in the decade-long case of Dr. Tommie (“Toni”) Savage.

Dr. Savage is represented by whistleblower attorney Michael Kohn of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto. “It took remarkable courage to confront the Corps’ command structure with validated allegations of massive contracting fraud,” Kohn said. “The Army owes Toni Savage a big apology after it chose on the one hand to reward the fraudster and with the other destroy Dr. Savage’s career, dignity and psychological well-being.”

By the time Dr. Savage became the chief of contracting at the Corps Huntsville, Alabama Support Center she had decades of outstanding performance reviews, promotions, and was the recipient of the Corps’ highest achievement awards for contracting. After her promotion, however, Dr. Savage ended up losing her career and suffering permanent psychological harm resulting from the hostile work environment that erupted when she exposed a long-standing pattern and practice of illegal contracting activity that was ongoing in the Army Corps’ “Ranges Program.”

Dr. Savage, an African American woman, faced severe retaliation in response to blowing the whistle on millions of dollars of contracting fraud being carried out and condoned by a white male military command structure. She was removed from her position, subjected to racist remarks, labeled disgruntled, given downgraded performance reviews, and subjected to slights, and impossible deadlines that produced a work environment so toxic that she began to suffer panic attacks upon entering the workplace. When Dr. Savage was physically unable to enter the workplace, she was terminated for being AWOL (absent without official leave).

In 2015, the MSPB issued a landmark decision in her case. Establishing what is known as the Savage Standard, it ruled that whistleblowers can seek protection under the federal Whistleblower Protection Act when they are subjected to a hostile work environment in retaliation for blowing the whistle. Remarkably, the administrative law judge handling the case failed to abide by the Board’s 2015 ruling and was decisively overruled a second time only after an additional five year delay because the MSPB lacked a quorum for five years.

In the new ruling, the MSPB determined that the Army constructively suspended Dr. Savage in 2009 and reversed the AWOL charge the administrative judge continued to rely upon to justify Dr. Savage’s removal. The Board concluded that her absence actually resulted from the hostile work environment she was subjected to after blowing the whistle. Thus, the MPSB ordered interim relief in the form of back pay, interest on back pay, and remanded the case back to the administrative judge to determine the full relief Dr. Savage is due.