Special Counsel seeks dismissal of two executives

The Office of Special Counsel wants the federal government to fire two executives who allegedly pre-selected candidates for jobs and then falsified documents to prevent other people from applying.

Special Counsel Elaine Kaplan filed petitions with the Merit Systems Protection Board Tuesday calling for the dismissal of the two executives at the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

According to the petition, Russell White, associate regional director for programs in NCUA's Dallas office, identified people he wanted to hire, then created vacancy announcements in remote locations such as Minot, N.D., and Amarillo, Texas, to discourage other people from applying.

"Mr. White never intended that the selectees would actually work in these duty stations," the Office of Special Counsel charged. "Instead, he arranged in advance-either directly or through an intermediary-for preferred candidates to apply to these false duty stations with the intention that they would actually be assigned to duty stations in major cities."

White's office then created a false paper trail to make it look like the candidates were hired at the fake locations.

Kaplan alleged that the practice of creating "false duty stations" spread to three other regions, including the Atlanta region, where the practice was used to hire women and minority candidates for credit union examiner positions.

The petition identifies Dorothy Foster, NCUA's director of human resources, as a conspirator in the practice. Foster allegedly permitted the practice to continue and signed falsified documents to help cover it up.

The Office of Special Counsel investigates and prosecutes allegations of prohibited personnel practices in the federal government before the Merit Systems Protection Board. Title 5 of the U.S. Code makes it illegal for federal officials to obstruct people's right to compete for government jobs. Officials must also adhere to a 90-day restriction on changes in geographic locations of job assignments, a rule requiring that the three most highly qualified candidates be considered for a position and veterans preference rules.

The NCUA executives violated all of those, Kaplan charged. In 1997, when the alleged violations first came to light, the Office of Personnel Management stripped NCUA of its hiring authority. NCUA officials told a House panel investigating the matter that regional managers adopted the practices in an attempt to hire more minorities, women and people with disabilities.

At the time, Janice Lachance, director of the Office of Personnel Management, noted that other agencies were able to do so without violating federal law.

An NCUA spokeswoman said this week that the agency did not have a formal comment on the cases, but said the agency is working with the Office of Special Counsel.