During a House Financial Services Committee hearing prior to the recess, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) spoke about retaliation within the FDIC against whistleblowers.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I'd like to delve into and take a little bit
00:03further approach. Mr. Hsu and also Mrs. Manino, thank you for your
00:12comments today. Both of you used the word several times, retaliation. Are you both
00:20lawyers? Yes. What is the federal law related to retaliation, at least in your
00:29opinion, that this whole agency, all the management and others should be, have
00:36been advised of? Because I've heard you twice say there's a concern about
00:42retaliation. An example would be the anti-discrimination laws, which in
00:50addition to making discrimination based on protected classes unlawful, would also
00:56cover any retaliation against individuals who make complaints about
01:02discrimination. Would that be the same as a whistleblower or is a whistleblower a
01:07different type of status? In other words, if a person's allowed to give feedback,
01:11their name, information, specific information, you know who they are, is
01:16that treated differently under the law than whistleblower? I think the answer is
01:21yes. Could you just rephrase your question? Yes, ma'am. Make sure I understand it. Yes, ma'am. And thank you. There is feedback that was
01:33provided within the agency. I don't know what that venue was, but we've heard
01:38about some 500. There were some 300, perhaps, that where they provided their
01:43name and direct information to where you get back to them. You've already said yes,
01:49there would be federal law related to the protection of those people, at least
01:54as relates to someone retaliating against them. Correct. Is that the same
02:01or different law that generally would apply or would apply to whistleblowers?
02:05And did you have whistleblowers? There are also specific whistleblower laws
02:13that protect individuals who report violations of law, so that's
02:19another example. Okay, so now I've heard both of you mention retaliation, probably
02:26as, at least in your mind, as a source of probably what is still there. What has
02:32taken place in relationship and who would be responsible for that
02:38observation and fixing where it dealt with retaliation in this FDIC agency? To
02:47elaborate on the concern about retaliation, one concern that we heard
02:52was, in addition to confusion about whether any conduct violated FDIC
02:58policies and who to report to, there was also a concern about whether FDIC
03:03employees could trust the reporting channels. Yes, ma'am. I want to go to who
03:07is responsible for directly taking that issue on with the knowledge that we've
03:12heard the current leadership is incapable of effectively managing the
03:18organization? Who is taking that issue on within the agency, notwithstanding what
03:25they should not be waiting for a new person to be approved by the United
03:30States? And who is taking this issue of retaliation on right now and has been in
03:37the past year? Who? Name that title. Congressman, I believe the full board
03:44needs to be engaged. The full board's great. Okay, now the board. All right, who
03:49you represent the board? I'm on the board. What are you doing to make sure that
03:54retaliation is not alive and well and will not be tolerated? What are you doing
04:00then, sir? So the fear of retaliation requires both cultural and structural
04:05transformation. There is currently a process that is broken. When will that be
04:14fixed, sir, since you're the responsible party? The board is currently taking
04:18action to create a new structure. When will that be fixed and does that require
04:22a new head of agency to approve that? It is being fixed as we speak. The board is
04:27currently being fixed. It is being fixed currently. Would you please provide this
04:31committee, both Republicans and Democrats, an answer that when that has
04:36been fixed. Yes. Notwithstanding who the director is, it is the board. I sure
04:42appreciate your help and thank both of you very much. I just think that some of
04:47the things going back to conversation about what needs to be fixed today,
04:51within a division of labor, there are certain things the new chairman would
04:56need to be responsible for and there are also things that are current issues
05:01and I appreciate your help and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back my time.
05:04The gentleman's time has expired.