In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates, Grassley reminded her that the Justice Department had agreed with the GAO recommendation that whistleblowers who had lodged retaliation complaints at the FBI should receive an estimated time frame for returning a decision on the case.
Grassley's letter outlines a case where the department has already reneged on that commitment. He wrote that as recently as September 21, 2015, Yates' office stated in an email that "given . . . the demands on [Deputy Attorney General Yates'] time are vast and quite unpredictable, it is not practical to require her to provide the parties with an estimated timeframe...." Grassley wrote in the letter that the Deputy Attorney General office's admitted inability to provide an estimated time frame to the whistleblower raises questions as to whether appeals of whistleblower retaliation cases should be handled by a different entity.
Grassley led a Judiciary Committee hearing on March 4, 2015, to explore whistleblower retaliation at the FBI. The hearing scrutinized the legal protections for employees that are weaker than any other agency. The FBI is not subject to the Whistleblower Protection Act and has its own rules governing whistleblower protections. Employees have no ability to appeal for an independent judgment outside the Justice Department.
A copy of the signed letter can be found here.
