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Environmental Protection Agency Retaliates Against Employees Protecting the Environment
“We’re here today because me and a bunch of my friends signed a letter to our boss,” said Harper Stanfield, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3911. “He didn’t like that.”
Stanfield works at the Environmental Protection Agency, and he was one of more than 600 EPA employees who signed the aforementioned letter, demanding that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin “stop undermining EPA and … affirm his oath and his commitment to EPA’s mission.” As a result, 139 of Stanfield’s colleagues were placed on paid administrative leave, and the EPA launched an internal investigation, alleging they signed the “declaration of dissent” letter using their official job titles. (Elected union officials were not placed on leave, and some of the signatories were already on leave at the time.)
Current and former EPA employees joined organized labor and allies at Foley Square in Manhattan last Wednesday for a rally condemning the agency’s actions. Protesters demanded the EPA reinstate its workers and stop undermining the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment. AFGE has also sent a letter to Zeldin characterizing the action as violating First Amendment rights by punishing employees for protected speech.
The administrative leave will remain in effect through July 17, but it may be extended if additional time is needed to conduct the investigation, which Stanfield—a Region 2 EPA employee—described as “an act of political retaliation that we will not allow.” No labor grievance has yet been filed; individual harm is difficult to decipher under federal labor law, given that the employees are on paid leave.
Stanfield works at the Environmental Protection Agency, and he was one of more than 600 EPA employees who signed the aforementioned letter, demanding that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin “stop undermining EPA and … affirm his oath and his commitment to EPA’s mission.” As a result, 139 of Stanfield’s colleagues were placed on paid administrative leave, and the EPA launched an internal investigation, alleging they signed the “declaration of dissent” letter using their official job titles. (Elected union officials were not placed on leave, and some of the signatories were already on leave at the time.)
Current and former EPA employees joined organized labor and allies at Foley Square in Manhattan last Wednesday for a rally condemning the agency’s actions. Protesters demanded the EPA reinstate its workers and stop undermining the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment. AFGE has also sent a letter to Zeldin characterizing the action as violating First Amendment rights by punishing employees for protected speech.
The administrative leave will remain in effect through July 17, but it may be extended if additional time is needed to conduct the investigation, which Stanfield—a Region 2 EPA employee—described as “an act of political retaliation that we will not allow.” No labor grievance has yet been filed; individual harm is difficult to decipher under federal labor law, given that the employees are on paid leave.
https://prospect.org/environment/2025-07-16-environmental-protection-agency-retaliates-against-employees/]