Bloomberg
The fair housing attorneys said they face retaliation for signing a report criticizing the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s leadership.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development moved to fire two HUD civil rights attorneys who signed a whistleblower disclosure alleging a pullback in fair housing enforcement at the agency.
- Fair housing lawyers Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan were given letters and asked to collect their belongings and leave the building, with Heenan being terminated for misconduct and Osadebe being put on administrative leave.
- The union plans to respond to the proposal to fire Osadebe and will invoke arbitration if a decision comes against the employee, with the Federal Unionists Network calling the move a “stunning act of illegal retaliation”.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development moved to fire two HUD civil rights attorneys who signed a whistleblower disclosure alleging a pullback in fair housing enforcement at the agency.
Fair housing lawyers Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan said they were summoned separately to meetings with HUD operations personnel on Sept. 29. Both were given letters and asked to collect their belongings and leave the building.
Heenan, who is a probationary employee, received a notice saying he was being terminated for misconduct including sharing nonpublic information, according to documents viewed by Bloomberg News. Osadebe was told he was being put on administrative leave and that management was proposing to fire him for for charges that include making statements the New York Times and the Washington Post.
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