The U.S. Navy allegedly fired a technician for speaking out against what he claims are lax safety standards, The Washington Free Beacon reports.
Glenn Schwarz, an aeronautical-engineering technician, filed a complained with the Navy Inspector General in June, 2015, claiming that officials at the Fleet Readiness Center-East (FRC-E) in Cherry Point, N.C., where Schwarz worked, failed to test fuel pumps and gauges for over a year. He also claimed that the facility wasted fuel and other resources, and improperly disposed of jet fuel as part of a number of hazardous disposal methods, according to Navy Times.
Two years later he was fired, but his termination was halted until the Office of Special Counsel investigates if his firing was retaliation.
"Glenn is unqualified, and thus not authorized by Navy regulation to conduct calibration activities," wrote his attorney, Cheri Cannon, in an email to a lawyer for the FRC-E, after civilian managers assigned him to a job despite his lack of training or qualifications.
"On-the-job training is not going to correct that deficiency," she added.
Cannon added that Schwarz's case is part of a larger problem within the FRC-E and the Metrology and Calibration Laboratory (METCAL) of workers who lack the proper credentials for their positions.
"Glenn is one of several employees at the METCAL lab who apparently lack either the proper education, training, or experience to properly do the job and this is an accident waiting to happen because of it," she said.
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