FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2025
June 27, 2025
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-639-6405/202-374-6491
[email protected]
Oversight Agency Affirms Worker Complaints of Safety Issues at USDA Research Center
Categories:
USDA
AFGE members filed whistleblower complaint over unsafe working conditions at agency’s flagship research site in Beltsville, Md.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has largely substantiated whistleblower complaints of unsafe working conditions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s largest research facility that were filed by members of the American Federation of Government Employees.
In May 2023, three USDA employees who hold leadership roles at AFGE Local 3147 filed a whistleblower complaint with OSC, disclosing that leadership at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland had put workers at risk and undermined their scientific experiments by failing to properly maintain the worksite. Just a month later, OSC found a “substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” by the agency and ordered then-USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to conduct an investigation into the AFGE members’ allegations and report back to OSC within 60 days.
“The agency investigation largely substantiated the whistleblowers’ allegations, finding pervasive safety deficiencies in many of the facilities and structures at BARC, including a general lack of housekeeping; excessive dirt and grime; flaking and peeling paint; damaged flooring; active and post flooding and other water intrusions; mold; and a lack of potable water,” OSC said in a June 25 report to President Trump.
Remediation actions were stymied by a lack of operation and maintenance plans, failure to provide employees with the necessary tools and equipment to make repairs, inadequate staffing, poor communication, and the lack of essential training for facilities management workers, the agency acknowledged.
The agency also determined that the poor condition of the facilities damaged scientific equipment, derailed and delayed research studies, and increased costs to research operations at the facility, although it says there was no evidence that the research loss was “irretrievable.”
In response to the agency findings, former Secretary Vilsack allocated $50 million for facility repairs and modernization and established teams to track progress on completing the 60 recommended corrective actions.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement:
“The work to begin addressing these critical and costly safety issues at our country’s top USDA research facility would not have happened if not for our members risking their careers and reputations to blow the whistle on the agency.
“In their roles as elected union officers, these three USDA employees used the official time allocated to them under the law to expose these egregious safety violations.
“At a time when many of our political leaders are trying to gut union rights and workplace protections for career federal workers, our success here validates how employees can make a huge difference in addressing government waste, fraud, and mismanagement when they don’t fear for their jobs and are protected from retaliation.”
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