Ethics Charges Against Top D.C. Judge "Vindication," Union Says

Monday, February 10, 2014

Ethics Charges Against Top D.C. Judge (Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The District’s chief administrative law judge was charged with engaging in retaliation against rank and file administrative law judges last Thursday, when the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability alleged 19 counts of wrongdoing against Mary Oates Walker, the chief judge and top official of the D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings. DC Mayor Vincent Gray on Friday placed Walker on leave with the intention of firing her for cause. Walker allegedly steered a $43,000 city contract to the husband of a business partner, hired that business partner into a city job and lied to investigators probing the actions, and then went after her employees, the law judges who tried to hold her accountable. “It’s a tremendous vindication for the judges,” said Paul Shearon, secretary-treasurer of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the union backing an organizing drive by the rank and file administrative law judges, who allege that Walker “harassed or retaliated against employees acting in good faith” by reporting potential wrong­doing. Adapted from reports in The Washington Post.

 

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