ML20210K490

Forwards for Review,Results of 850522 Interview Concerning Allegations RII-85-A-0016.Concerns May Be Referred Back to Util & Subj to NRC Audit.Info Will Be Forwarded to Technical Staff for Review.W/O Encl.Related Info Encl

ML20210K490
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	06/20/1985
From:	Uryc B NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:	Price L AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
Shared Package
ML20210K456	List: IR 05000424/1985053 ML20210K452 ML20210K470 ML20210K482 ML20210K490 ML20210K500 ML20210K504 ML20210K511
References
FOIA-86-43 NUDOCS 8604280327
Download: ML20210K490 (15)

Text

7 v

. ,~

UNITE 2 STATES

' ' '-y,/ free,{6 NUCLEAR REOULATCRY COMMisslON p REGlON80 g j 101 MARIETTA STREET.N.W.

ATLANTA. GEORGIA 30303

'*4,,,,, June 20, 1985 Ms. Leslie A. Price c/o Route 2, Box 265 Vidalia, GA 30474

^

SUBJECT:

ALLEGATIONS REGARDING V0GTLE NUCLEAR PLANT, RII-85-A-0016 Enclosed please find the write up I made' regarding the interview I- had with you on May 23, 1985. I am forwarding a copy per your request.

The information will be provided to the Technical Staff for review and any follow up action. I would also like to advise you that there may be some., concerns which you reported that could be referred back to the licensee for follow up which would be subject to audit by the NRC.

Please review the. enclosed document and if there are any changes or corrections that you would like to make, please call me collect at 404/221-4193.

2.

I appreciate your cooperation and assistance in this matter. I'll be in touch with you regarding the resolution of your allegations, and if I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

$4MD. SjG Bruno Uryc Inves tigation/Allega tion Coordinator

Enclosure:

Results of Interview, 8 pages w/atch 8604280327 860328 '

PDR FOIA FOWLERS 6-43 PDR

u s sucttaa etoutatoav coeurssros wacrem m ALLEGATION DATA FORM t1142: in.iewetion. en eeve se .ier RECEIVlN3 OFFICE Docket Number (if applicablel

' ';2*J' ,'.';;* '

'~J' voer a eso oo42 4 generic. wrie. GENERICS

~

2. Functional Areef al involved: onsite health and safaty ich.ca .ppropret. tionte.1 I operations _

construction __

offsite health and safety safeguards _ emergency preparedness other tspecifyl

3. D:scription: lAIBIOISIEl IOlFI IT1RIOldbl idE1T1EICtrit lolbil IPl

• "****'* IRio151RIANI IANIbl IClolMl&lTIRIOlc.frli 10141 ICI lolHic.EIRIMisl. I I I I I I I I I I I I IIIIII I I I I I I I I I 1.1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

4. Scurce of Allegation: security guard contractor employee _

tcheck .pproprote t>o :

licensee employee ._ news media NRC employee ._._.

private citizen

.__ organization (specityl other (specify MM DD YY

5. Date Allegation Received:

anest two initi.i. .no s.. n. met 0

6. Name of Individual Receiving Allegation:

7. Office: g y ,

ACTION OFFICE in,.i swe insii.i. .no s.. n.m.:

3 , U R V, C .-

8. Action Office

Contact:

L C 3 S. FTS Telephone Number: Q v 7 _ g

10. Ctatus: - Open. If followup actions are pending or in progress tcheck onei Closed. If f ollowup actions are completed MM DD YY

11. Date Closed: g g

. h~\

12 a*=k':

(Lirrut to 50 cher.ctersi 1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII lIIl IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Offic. Yr Numiset

13. Allegation Number: -

5 O O I 6

' ~

. . . Rcb M L

ACLU Amencan Civil 88 Walton Attanta.

Liberties Uruon Street. NW Georgia 30303 -

of Georgia Second Floor (404) 523 5398 For Release: For Further Information:

Monday, say 13, 1985 '

Gene Guerrero Office: 523-5398 10:00 A.M. Home: 523-3283 The American Civil Liberties Union announced this morning that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of four former workers at Georgia Power. Company's nuclear P hnt Vogtle, under construction near Augusta, Georgia. The ACLU is asking federgi o((icials to order Georgia Power to discontinue use of a urinanalysis testing program. Under the program, anonymous tips of drug usage can be telephoned into a " hot line." Employees y turned in on the " hot line" are then required to submit to urinanalysis tests as are all new employees and non-construction personnel.

According to the ACLU complaint, " workers with a history of making known their opinions regarding quality concerns at the plant, were identified on the hot line." Two of the workers, Steve McNally and Billy Weatherford, had previously said they regarded such tests as an invasion of privacy and would refuse to submit to a urine test. They were turned into the hot line after filing safety-related complaints. Both were then fired wheh they refused to take th'e urinalysis test. Leslie Price worked as a quality control inspector. She had complained to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding quality control violations. Once she was warned by 'a welder that she would be turned in on the hotline if she was too careful inspecting welds.

Soon her name was called in on the hot line and she was fired when A .

.. Nsws R21ocso, May 13, i985 Page Two company officials said the tests came out positive for drug usage.

James B. Register filed a quality concern regarding improper documentation of activities of the survey department. He was fired when his name was turned into the hot line and company officials said he failed the urinanalysis test. Susan Register filed complaints with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She was fired after'she was first unable to produce enough urine for a test and later refused to take a test.

In addition to filing the complaint on behalf of the five named workers, ACLU officials charged that the urinanalysis testing program has made agpy Plant Vogtle workers afraid to act on quality or safety concesns.**" Conscientious workers are afraid to file safety and quality control complaints for fear they will be turned in on the hot line," according to ACLU state director Gene Guerrero.

"We have received complaints from a number of workers at Plant Vogtle, including workers who have taken the test once and passeda but

~

fear that if they step out of line, the testing program will be used to discharge them," said Guerrero. " Ironically," Guerrero continued, "a program which purports to be about safety is having the opposite effect. The workers who complain to us are safety conscious. They know how dangerous a large construction site can be and they recognize the need for careful construction of nuclear i

plants. They are pro-nuclear power. They believe this program l adversly affects safety, and violates their right to be treated with respect and dignity on the j ob."

l 1

l- ,

May 13, 1985 Office of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division Employee Standards Administration U.S. Department of Labor -

STEVE McNALLY, BILLY WEATHERFORD, )

LESLIE PRICE, JAMES B. REGISTER, )

and SUSAN TILLER REGISTER, )

Petitio,ners )

)

vs. -

) COMPLAINT

. )

' )

GEORGIA POWER COMPANY, )

Respondent )

I. INTRODUCTIO,N 4

Petitioners Steve McNally, Billy Weatherford, Leslie Price,

~

James B. Registef and Susan Tiller Register file this complaint a .u.

. pursuant to the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, 42 USC 5851; and 29 CFR Part 24.

1 In the spring of 1984, the Georgia Power Company implemented a drug policy at its nuclear Plant Vogtle construction site whereby workers can phone in on a " hotline" 4

anonymous allegations of drug abuse by other workers. The j caller may make any allegation, based on any motive; the accused party is never informed of the identity of his accuser.

Any accused worker is then forced to take an EMIT urinalysis

! screening test which purportedly picks up traces of drugs in the urine up to 39 days after ingestion. ,

Petitioners were reported on the company /s hotline or otherwise targeted to take the urinolysis screening test solely as a consequence of making complaints to company qua[ity f

assurance personnel and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

. - - . - , - , . . _ . _ , . . . . _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ , . . . _ . _ . _ _ _ , _ . _ , _ _ , _ . , _ , _ . . . _ , , , _ . . _ - . . _ . . . , _ , _ - - _ _ _ _ _ , _ , . . _ . . , . . _ _ ~ _ _ , , . _ _ _ . _ _ . , _ , _ _ . _ _ _ _ - - .

T staff in accordance with 10 CFR Part 59 Appendix B. Their complaints, which are further discussed below, concern inadequate documentation, falsifi' cation of records and other violations of the Atomic Energy Act. Petitioners Steve McNally, Billy Weatherford and Susan Tiller Register have been discharged as a result of refusing to take the urinalysis and petitioners Leslie Price and James B. Register have been discharged as a result of failing to pass the test.

Petitioners' complaints to quality assurance personnel and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission constitute protected activity under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, 42 USC 5851; Georgia Power's urinalysis program, as applied to petitioners, constitutes ditcrihination as prohibited by 42 USC 5851 and 29 CFR Part 24.

This discrimination continues as Georgia Power Company refuses to pay unemployment benefits to discharged petitioner Susan Tiller Register and refuses to allow petitione'rs Leslie Price and Susan Tiller Register to withdraw their contributions to the Company's saving plan program. The presence of Georgia Power attorney Chuck Whitney at a meeting between Petitioners, their attorneys and other workers opposed to the urinalysis program, including current Company employees as well as disc'iarged workers, in Augusta on April 18th, 1985 constitutes further discrimination, harassment and intimidation.

When Mr. Whitney initially attempted to enter the meeting room, he was told that his presence was inappr,opriate and unacceptable. He insisted on entering in order to assure those

present that the company would not retaliate against them for attending the meeting. Again he was asked to leave the room and finally did so. Mr. Whitney stood outside the meeting room for several minutes; he was finally picked up by a passing car. His remarks and presence in general further raised workers' anxiety and fear of discrimination, intimidation and harrassment.

As the Company had failed to post NRC Form 3 at readily accessible points at the construction site at the time petitioners were terminated, petitioners were unaware that this federal grievance procedure was avai1*able to them. Because petitioners were first informed of th,eir legal rights regarding this proceedinh ae 2 meeting with American Civil Liberties Union attorneys on April 18th, 1985, this complaint is timely filed.

II. DESCRIPTION OF PETITIONERS A. Steve McNally, 70 Washington St., Apt. $1, N6w London, CT. 96329, worked for nine months at Plant Vogtle as a quality control inspector. He has over ten years of experience in this field. In August 1984, Mr. McNally submitted a written quality concern in accordance with 19 CFR Part 50 Appendix B regarding management's attitude of production before quality to head quality control manager, Mike Upchurch. No action was taken regarding this concern. Mr. McNally continued to urge management, particularly assistant quality control manager Roy Page, to follow their own procedures involving the handling of cable reels and filling out EE-589 cable installation cards, as I

well as others. In the last week of November 1984, Page fired Mr. McNally for refusing to work unscheduled overtime without pay.This decision was overridden and Mr. McNally was rehired  ;

the same week though he was given the next scheduled work week off without pay for insubordination.

In,early November, Mr. McNally was assigned to a problem-solving team by Mr.*Pinson, Georgia Power Company vice-president for site construction. The team's task was to identify quality problems, formulate solutions and present results to management. Team meetings were to start in December.

As a result of Mr. McNally's history of making quality assurance complaints, Fred Page, the new head quality control manager, direc$e( him not to attend the meetings and without authorization removed him from the problem-solving team. When the team leader informed Mr. Pinson of this, Mr. McNally was

) immediately reassigned to the team.

L On November 30, 1984, Mr. McNally notified a Nucl, ear Regulatory Commission investigator on-site that Georgia Power Company management was attempting to intimidate him into leaving his job for expressing his concerns regarding quality assurance. One week later Mr. McNally was transferred, without choice, from the electrical quality control department to the field engineering department. In mid-January of 1985, three quality control inspectors were called in on the hotline for suspected drug abuse. Mr. McNally, suspecting that he would be the next to be called in, asked Roy Page for a copy of the quality concern he had submitted in August 1984'. He also told

~

Page that he considered the test an invasion of privacy and would refuse to take the test in the event he was asked to. The following day, Mr.McNally's name was phoned in on the hotline.

He refused to take the urinalysis and was subsequently discharged on January 16, 1985.

B. Billy Weatherford, Box 1123, Clearwater, SC, 29822, has been employed at Plant Vogtle since 1977. He has worked in both the survey and mechanical sections at the plant. At the time he was discharged he, held the position of party chief and supervised a crew of four surveyors. In October of 1984 he reported to Ed Groover of the quality assurance division his

' concern that the lack of docimentatio6 of design changes in the e .s.

powerblock buildings would result in an open item in the event of a quality assurance audit of the field books.

Mr. Weatherford continually reminded the crews on other shifts of the necessity of proper documentation. The other party chief supervisors, particularly David Moncus, began to harass him and search for faults in his work. Moncus accused him of time theft but Mr. Weatherford was acquitted. He  ;

reported to his supervisor, Herman Richards, that he was being harassed for insisting that work be done properly by the crews and predicted that he would be forced to take the urinalysis as a means of intimidation. Soon thereafter Mr. Weatherford was told by Moncus that his name had been phoned in on the hotline and thus he would have to take the urinalysis screening test.

Mr. Weatherford had stated publicly many times.before that he believed the drug test was a constitutional violation and that

- he would not take it. He did in fact refuse to take the urinalysis and walked off the site when he was ordered to do so. He was discharged by the Company on March 1st, 1985.

C. Leslie Price was employed for two and a half years as a civil quality control inspector at Plant Vogtle. On January 24, 1985 she contacted Bruno Uryc of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff about qual'ity assurance violations at the plant including falsification of soil density records during 1976-77, extensive honeycombing in the concrete of the control building on the north wall, the fact that Georgia Power Company was purposefully camouflaging the fact that workers were being terminated for drug abuse activity so that NRC would not force them to reinsRpch $the work performed by these individuals, and documentation problems in the quality assurance vault. On or about February 4th, she notified a welder that his welds were

? inadequate. He warned her that her pickiness might someday result in a hotline complaint. On February lith, she notified her supervisor, Allen Chestnut, that her party chief Charlie Bonnell was drunk on the job, performing his work inadequately and preventing other workers from performing their jobs. The following day she was ordered to take the urinalysis as a result of an alleged hotline complaint. She was subsequently discharged on February 12, 1985 for misconduct and violation of work rules. A Georgia Department of Labor administrative i hearing officer found that she had been discharged for being at work with drugs in her system.

l '

f D. James B. Register, Route 2, Box 265, Vidalia, GA 36474, t

is a surveyor with eleven years of experience in his field. He was employed at Plant Vogtle for almost three years as an instrument man in the survey department. On January 25, 1985, Mr. Register filed a quality concern on survey regarding the department's failure to follow its procedures regarding field work, documentation and harrassment of surveyors. On February 21, 1985 he was ordered to take the urinalysis as his name had allegedly been identified on the hotline. On February 27th he was discharged as a consequence of failing to pass the test.

E. Susan Tiller Register, Route 2, Box 265, Vidalia, GA 30474, was employed at Plant Vogtle for four and a half years.

Her last job title was that o,f Junior, Coordinator in the Mechanical DivisioW. Around the first of January 1985 she began hearing rumors that she had identified other workers as drug users on the hotline and was thus target for a hotline' call

" herself. Ms. Tiller was allegedly identified as a drug user on the hotline soon thereaf ter and was ordered to take *the urinalysis screening test. She was unable to produce enough urine for the test on January 22nd and on January 23rd. She refused to take the urinalysis again on January 24th and was discharged for insubordination, excessive absenteeism and unsatisfactory job performance. On January 24th she contacted Bruno Uryc of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with her concerns regarding settling of the Auxiliary Building as a result of improper backfilling, protection by Georgia Power Company of certain employees who were not being required to take the urinalysis and problems with concrete in the turbine

e building resulting from walls being backfilled too soon. She also told Mr. Uryc that she was being harassed and intimidated for be'ing a suspected hotline accuser. On January 25th she was

{

discharged for insubordination, excessive absenteeism and unsatisfactory job performance.

II . CONCLUSION i Petitioners' complaints to quality assurance personnel and

, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff in accordance with company policy and 19 CFR Part 59 Appendix B constitute protected activity under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, 42 USC 5851; use of the hotline and urinalysis screening test

?.

as a means of pigoberging employees, including petitioners, who I have engaged in protected activity constitutes discrimination as prohibited by 42 USC 5851. Furthermore, the presence of Georgia Power's attorney, Chuck Whitney, at the April 18th meeting between workers and ACLU attorneys constitutes discrimination, harrassment and intimidation as well.

Thus, pursuant to 42 USC 5851 (b) (2) (B) , petitioners request reinstatement with full back pay in their former i positions at the Plant Vogtle facility. Furthermore, because 1 Georgia Power Company's drug testing program is both unreliable (l) and unconstitutional (2) and because a strong f

likelihood exists that other workers who have made quality assurance and safety complaints have been and will continue to be discriminated against by use of the hotline and urinalysis screening test, petitioners request that the use of the urinalysis be discontinued and that the Company reinstate, with

full back 1

pay, all workers who have been discharged as a result of their refusal to take, or failure to pass, the urinalysis.

Petitioners request any other relief the board might deem appropriate.

. Respectfully submitted, May 13, 1985 Ralph Goldberg

-* 1133 Healey Building s .se 57 Forsyth St.

Atlanta, GA 29303 Gary Flack Laurie Fowler Attorneys for Petitioners e

J 1

The Syva Company's literature concedes that i ts test is only 954 accurate. A 1982 study by the Department of Defense and the Air Force, however, shows that the EMIT test produces up to 11.1 Percent unconfirmed, or false, positives. The Syva Company has found that 11 substances, including aspirin, can trigger false positives. See S. Clark et al., EMIT Cannaboid Assay: Clinical Study No. 74 Summary Report (Palo Alto: The Syva Company, 1989), pp. 22-24. Studies indicate that passive inhalation of marijuana by nonsmokers as well as substances produced by the human body.may also trigger false positives.

See P. Zeidenberg et al., " Marijuana Intoxication by Passive Inhalation: Documentation by Detection of Urinary Metabolites,"

American Journal of Psychiatry 134:1 at pp. 76-77 (January 1977).

2 The chilling effect of the hotline and urinalysis is apparent. Workers now fear to make their quality and safety concerns known in light of the hotline retaliation which might follow.

\ $

?~

O 9

9

. w .. _

d..er11101 Zed f.or

. . m u- > s :

=

e o L .

Nunreliability

j. . . . .

- w'fg,kA ,. vahnet.

=

m e

9

.s _ ,

t.anysi

. C' ,

. n. A u.

i

7. ,-Q.: i '

• By Charles Seabreek m wm.,

D *

- [- .g( 4%,

."._ Tream

'y d'"CY >

The reliabdity of drug screening tests. Uke ' i. - - % -

'" 7- * '"'

'thsee proposed by baseball enemhaiceer Peter , '

Discti,!

Uens: tog, is being lacrosslagly challenged for i , *. - , ' ,'1 C  :

'. . . ' f. ~ .a , %.

at De thstr inabatty to consistanoy wenuly users of - - ' ~ ,

ilu d 4

'.~ -' ~ '

~

.~ ' '

Dodip ,

New used by the multary, pebile as-r4am '. ' -

and a number of corporations, some uriae tests -

anoa 5 taw n sama heared by some laborataries have been >- >V.  ;' , .

wrseg op to too percent of the time, according

- ' ~- '~. .

.' 5. , -

to a recent report from the UA Centers for Diesase Control. -

g- t

'!he M said "arion .l [- ' --* b lb . .

p.,. _ ,,,,,

accumy of tat resets - coupled Em rapid Commissioner Peter Ueberroth has ordered drug tests for,all beschall personnel, twy co l lacreases la the use of the scrossing i., -h excePt major-league players days

- has emated a " crisis in drug tesun( la ths . Wdson, United States.

singer, a former administrator of the federal phetamines, cocaine, codeine and enorphine. aM "1%e h hatt people are going to be awful- Drug Enforcement Administration and now The testing programs have been used most P"50" ly, awfully for getting lato testing peo- president of a Chicago consulting firm that ad- widely in the military, prisons and drug abuse ple's artes for win a i

" says Dr. Arthur McBay, vises companies ce drug screening programs. treatment programs. lately, government agen- renstet eksf towie=ta- J =t for the state of North Caroll- But Ueberrows announcement comes at a cies, including the U S. Postal Service, have nas feo and a 'astsonal expert on tesung for mart- time when such tests are under increasing fire. started using the tests to screen job applicants son.

l The CDC report, published two weeks ago in and employees. Many of the Fortune 500 com-r j While'McBay applandes UeberreG's efforte the Journal of the American Medical Assoela- panies now perform similar drug tests. ,

professional baseball of drug abuse, he tion, found that more than a dozen private lab-that acy of the tests may spewn a eratories serv'ng 282 drug treatment centers "W thin a year or two, in order to get a et legal cha!)enges, as it already has around the nation had " false-positive *.* error good job, you are going to have to be drug- A"'S1' i i ladustrial and government work- rates of up to 46 percent when testlag for free," says Dr. Michael Walsh, chief of clinical rez is k '

WO"-

who ve been denia( employmset because awdadone and op to 37 percent wher> testing Institute and behavioral of Dnag Abuse. pharmacology at the National

• 18 ef test results.

• for amphetamines. -

Became of doubts about the reliability of A false-positive result :ndicates a sperson This may k Ge ddmate hb 'd' the tests, McBay sa he himself would reface has been taking a certain drug, when he has vice against drug abuse which casting this to cooperate if his vauhood depended on Ge act. ,

country untold hundreds of millicas of dollars The las

outcasne of the test. In the study, the researchers found that in lost prodoctivity, absenteelse from work season' The proposed screening program will in- sone of 12 laboratories could re!! ably test for and on-the-job accidents," he says' Tamp **

ciude aD ha** hall personnel - from owners to amphetamines 80 percent of the time - the But Walsh is also concerned that the tests consper. ,

sterstaries to 3.044 adsor league players. It rate the CDC considers "ecceptable.- often yleid inaccurate results. w' does not yet include majorleague players be- Only one of 11 tabs had " acceptable'* tests Because of the growing threats of lawsuits cause the plan must first be accepted by the .for cocaine and five of them were unable to de ' from peoons who claim they have been falsely sentenc '

Major IAngue Players Association Before drug lect traces of the drug in any of the arine sam- accused :of drug abuse, many companies are tasung for the players becomes mandatory. ' pies that actually contained it. oow rechecking the results of drug tests.

"ne basebaD car &*=t^=r is focusing'at- The lacrease in screening for 1111 cit drugs Since June, the Army has also been review.

Admits :

Niter a tenties an drug abuse, a major problem in this has coene about only dur:ng the past four or ing the cases of $1,000 soldiers or veterans who for the country,*and 18 is est is the tout laterest of the Ave years as new technology has made analysis may have been improperly disciplined on tookthe **g major lesgee players to resist his efforts to rid reliable and cheap. The tests can detect most basis o poorly administered tasts for ulegal oncenn sports of the problem,"jsays Peter B. Bee- drugs, heleding marijuana, barbituratas, am- drugs. players

-c _ _ - - . . . - . ~ . - _ . , . . _ , , . _ . , - . . . _ _ _ _ - - - -