Judicial Watch - Because no one is above the law!

JW Sues Postal Officials on Behalf of Brentwood Anthrax Survivors

On October 15, 2001, within minutes of discovering anthrax spores in Senator Tom Daschle's Senate office, Capitol Hill Police were called, tests were performed and the entire building was shut down. Congressional staffers were tested and provided prompt medical care.

The postal employees who processed the contaminated mail, however, received far different treatment.

Officials from the United States Postal Service kept the Brentwood postal facility open for four days after knowing it had been contaminated. They lied to postal employees about the dangers. They failed to follow emergency procedures. And they threatened, intimidated and punished postal workers who asked questions. Two employees are dead because of this negligence, and many others continue to suffer to this day with a variety of ailments resulting from anthrax exposure.

Judicial Watch filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of these survivors on October 14, naming the Postmaster General and other senior postal officials as defendants.

"Postal officials were more concerned with saving money than they were saving the lives of their employees," said JW President Tom Fitton. "If postal employees were told the truth from the beginning, they could have taken steps to protect themselves. Instead they received lies and threats, and now two people are dead and many others suffer to this day."

Evidence uncovered by Judicial Watch reveals shocking disregard on the part of managers of the United States Postal Service for postal employees. According to Judicial Watch's official complaint:

On November 21, 2000, USPS officials signed a collective bargaining agreement with employees acknowledging that, "It is the responsibility of management to provide safe working conditions in all present and future installations and to develop a safe working force."
On October 15, 2001, a letter was opened in Senator Daschle's office containing a fine white powder. Field tests showed the letter contained an extremely potent "weaponized" brand of anthrax.
According to notes taken by Brentwood Plant Manager Timothy Haney the morning of October 18, Haney pulled another postal official aside and "let her know that the mail was leaking and that [the Brentwood facility was] affected." Later that same day, Haney writes, "We were able to identify the actual machine the mail had been processed on…Again they tested hot."
During multiple press conferences and several Brentwood "floor meetings" between October 18 and October 21, managers from the United States Postal Service "falsely represented to the employees that both the building and the mail were safe and that the employees should continue to work." In fact, on October 19, a notice was posted on all employee bulletin boards that early reports of testing at Brentwood showed no contamination," even though management knew this to be false.
On Sunday, October 21, Brentwood employee Thomas Morris, Jr. called 911 complaining of inhalation anthrax-like symptoms. He died several hours later. Only then, later that day, did Brentwood management shut the facility down - 10 days after the letter to Daschle was processed and 4 days after officials knew the facility was contaminated.
Even after the facility was closed, truck drivers employed at the facility were called in to transport potentially contaminated mail to other postal facilities for delivery throughout the U.S.

"Clearly postal workers at the Brentwood facility were put at risk," continued Fitton. "Judicial Watch will see to it that those responsible are punished."