Secretary of the Navy, John H. Dalton, has put the promotion of Captain James A. Johnson's on hold pending the outcome of an investigation concerning allegations of misconduct according to Senator Tom Harkin of the state of Iowa. Captain Johnson's failure to take corrective action of illegal acts under his control may be viewed as dereliction of duty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. A full investigation by the U.S. Navy Inspector General's Office at the Pentagon is looking into the matter. Captain James A. Johnson was on the Admiral Select List of nominees approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee and passed by the full Senate. Captain Johnson served as the Commanding Officer at the Naval Hospital in Bremerton, Washington from 1995 through 1997.

Testimony presented at a hearing before the Congressional Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology in July of this year put into question Captain Johnson's suitability to the higher duties as an Admiral. The Chairman of the Subcommittee, Representative Stephen Horn (R-CA) from Long Beach California, recommended that the Senate be notified concerning the approval of Captain James A. Johnson pending promotion to Admiral.

Facts about the hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology can be found in a news release on the World Wide Web:
http://www.house.gov/reform/gmit/press/p980706.htm
Point of contact is Matthew Ebert (202) 225-5147
   
During Captain James A. Johnson's years in charge of Naval Hospital Bremerton, he had knowledge of discrimination and retaliation. The allegations against him include:

* Neglecting to correct a hostile work environment resulting in additional insult injury to the employee.

* Failure to provide reasonable accommodations to the injured worker.

* Delaying a legal settlement with the Office of Special Counsel involving Whistle Blower Violations, this cost the Government unnecessary time and greater expense.

* Delaying the release of the LT Franze Report, this outlines illegal and abusive acts towards Susan Yake, resulting in additional injury to her.

* Failing to take corrective action when a former supervisor and other employee allegedly committed perjury in sworn testimony during official EEOC hearings.

* Failing to take corrective action when a current Food Service Supervisor allegedly committed perjury on a sworn affidavit to the Office of Worker's Compensation Program one month after the Office of Special Counsel settlement was signed.

* Failure to take corrective action when an investigation conducted by HMCM Johnson upon the office of the Employment Equal Opportunity Counselor uncovered abusive acts against numerous civilian employees with active EEO complaints. This abusive behavior resulted in the American Federation of Government Employees Local #48 refusing to recognize the EEO Counselor for the hospital any longer.

Freedom of Information Request for an unredacted copy of the HMCM Johnson
Report at Naval Hospital in Bremerton in the Spring of 1995 may be directed to:
    T. F. Fredman, Esq.
    Assistant to the General Counsel of the Navy (FOIA)
    2211 South Clark Place
    Arlington, VA 22244-5103

    A Congressional Inquiry from the offices of Congressman Rick White and Senator Slade Gorton concerning the treatment of Susan Yake by the management of Naval Hospital resulted in yet another investigation. Captain James A. Johnson assigned Lt. Franze to conduct an investigation of the Food Services of Naval Hospital. Lt. Franze submitted the report of her findings by October of 1995. Captain Johnson did not release the report until 8 July 1996, over a year after Congressional Inquiry. Steven S. Honigman, General Counsel of the Navy, has refused requests from Senator Patty Murray's office for unredacted copies of the Lt. Franze report. The Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology is formally requesting a copy of this report. The Navy continues to obstruct the inclusion of this report in the U.S. Department of Labor Workers' Compensation case file of Susan Yake.

Freedom of Information Request for an unredacted copy of the Lt. Franze Investigative Report the request need to be directed to:
    T. F. Fredman, Esq.
    Assistant to the General Counsel of the Navy (FOIA)
    2211 South Clark Place
    Arlington, VA 22244-5103


The report concerning the investigation by Lt. Franze is titled:

NUTRITION - CASE NUMBER 01-95 and has 24 pages plus enclosures 1 - 65
The FIRST ENDORSEMENT is dated 05 February 1996 and final report is dated 8 July 96. The report is identified by the numbers: 5830 Ser. 00A14/01901 and is signed by J. A. JOHNSON, the Commanding Officer of Naval Hospital Bremerton

    The Office of Special Counsel conducted three on site investigatory visits to the Naval Hospital. OSC had found evidence of Whistle Blower Violations, Retaliation, and failure to provide reasonable accommodations as ordered by the Occupational Health doctor. Captain James A. Johnson refused to sign the August 8, 1996 settlement unless Susan Yake gave up her two EEOC cases without compensation. Ellen Booth, Investigator from OSC, and Bruce Fong, Senior Attorney from the California office of OSC, thought that was unreasonable. Bruce Fong explained to Captain Johnson that he would be personally accountable for the laws broken. On 18 April 1997, the final settlement was signed.

    On 21 April 1997 an OWCP hearing concerning Susan Yake's Worker's Compensation injury was held in Seattle. The Office of Special Counsel investigated the actions of management concerning this injury and found their actions in violation of the law. The OSC provided a report to the US Department of Labor outlining their findings. Joseph Perez, the Hearing Representative, wrote a decision in Susan Yake's favor. Just a month after the Office of Special Counsel settlement, the agency under Captain Johnson's leadership wrote a bogus report against Susan Yake's OWCP case. A sworn affidavit was so full of false statements that Joseph Perez stated in his decision that the food supervisor's statement was "self-serving and less than accurate".

    Susan Yake's Worker's Compensation Case became high profile when Thomas M. Markey, Director for Federal Employees' Compensation, directed Hearing Representative Joseph Perez to discredit Susan Yake's witnesses and rewrite the decision against her claim. When Joseph Perez refused to rewrite the decision against Susan Yake, he was removed from his Hearing Representative job and reassigned to another job within the U.S. Department of Labor. The Inspector General within the U.S. Department of Labor is looking into the matter. Susan Yake was awarded an other hearing after Senator Slade Gorton's Bellevue office inquired as to the legalities of assigning a new Hearing Representative to write to decision. The Office of Special Counsel also opened an investigation concerning allegations of reprisal and retaliation against Joseph Perez.

National news about Joseph Perez is on the World Wide Web at:
http://fedupfeds.org



    Eric Erling from Senator Gorton's office attended the next OWCP re-hearing held before OWCP Representative, Mr. Bankert. Eric Erling was mailed a copy of Mr. Bankert's decision of Case #A14-307645. Senatorial Aide Eric Erling stated after reading the decision that he had no doubt that the U.S. Department of Labor had retaliated against Susan Yake for testifying before Congress. Mr. Andy Anderson, Trustee from American Federation of Government Employees Local #48, and Steve Yake, Susan's husband, attended the OWCP hearing. They also believe this was an act of retaliation, especially after reading the negative tone of Mr. Bankert's decision.

Senator Slade Gorton submitted a report about abuses in OWCP to be included in the hearing documents of Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology. Senator Gorton's office is now acting to encourage hearings in the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia . Senator Brownback of Kansas is the Chairman of this subcommittee and Senator Lieberman of Connecticut is the Ranking Member.

The President of American Federation of Government Employees Local #48, Carl Owen, (360) 377-1962 or (360) 377-2952 is actively concerned for the safety of the employees who work at Naval Hospital Bremerton. The BUMED Inspector General will be at Naval Hospital Bremerton from October 14th through the 23rd of October. President Owen plans to make an individual appointment to meet with the Inspector General. He has encouraged all who wish to voice their concerns to call the IG at (360) 475-4732 or (360) 475-4733 during the inspection visit so they may discuss concerns they have. One of the issues he will be relaying to the IG is the actions of a Food Service Supervisor. Recently, he was found to have posted a cartoon showing a manager with a smoking gun and a dead employee on the floor. Another employee was at the office door. The caption read, "NEXT" and was highlighted so that his workers would take note. During the last year, several of the workers in his area have reported hearing him comment about shooting employees.
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The Secretary of the Navy, John H. Dalton, retires on November 16, 1998. On August 16, 1994, Senator Orrin Hatch wrote a letter to the U.S. Navy General Counsel, Mr. Honigman asking him to take action to fix Susan Yake's EEO problems at Naval Hospital Bremerton. It has been over 6 years since Susan Yake was first sexually harassed and sexually assaulted on hospital grounds. It started November 1991, the same month of the infamous Tailhook Convention. The IG investigations should seek to uncover the truth. Susan Yake is asking the Secretary of the Navy to correct and reverse the controversion of her OWCP claim so that her Worker's Compensation claim may be approved, and further, so she may receive additional treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder acquired during the course of her employment. She is asking for an appropriate and fair settlement for the injuries sustained in her two EEOC cases to compensate for the broken EEO system at Naval Hospital Bremerton where these injuries occurred, and where the cases were filed and processed.