ML052440465
| ML052440465 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Salem, Hope Creek  |
| Issue date: | 10/14/2003 |
| From: | Monroe K NRC/OI/RGN-I/FO |
| To: | |
| References | |
| 1-2003-010S, FOIA/PA-2004-0191 | |
| Download: ML052440465 (23) | |
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Case No. 1-2003-O1OS Exhibit 5
1 1 UNITED STATED OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3
4 OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS S INTERVIEW
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ --- --- x 6
7 IN THE MATTER OF:
8 INTERVIEW OF : Docket No.
.9 : 1-2003-OlOS 10 (CLOSED) 11 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ -x 12 Tuesday, October 14, 2003 13 14 Salem/Hope Creek Generating 15 Station 16 Processing Center 17 Artificial Island, New Jersey 18 19 The above-entitled interview was 20 conducted at 4:57 p.m.
21 BEFORE:
22 Special Agent Kristin Monroe, NRC/OI:RI 23 24 25 EXHIBIT PAGERSq OF --24PAGE (S)
- NEAL R. GROSS Asam I - Za a-y DLqTSEPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
2 1 APPEARANCES:
2 On Behalf of the Witness:
3 JEFF KEENAN, ESQ.
4 Associate General Solicitor 5 PSEG 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 (4:57 p.m.)
3 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: All right. Today 4 is Tuesday, October 14th, 2003, and the time .is now 5 4:57 p.m.
6 This is an interview o , who 7 is an 8 who is employed by PSEG at the Salem/Hope Creek 9 Generating Stations on Artificial Island, New Jersey.
10 Effective September 29th, 2003, because of 11 the restructuring at the site; is no longe 12 direct supervisor. Also present for the 13 interview this evening is Jeff Keenan, who is the 14 Assistant.General Solicitor for PSEG Salem/Hope Creek.
15 My name is Kristin Monroe, and I am a 16 Special Agent with the NRC Office of Investigations, 17 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. We are doing the 18 interview at the processing center, which is at 19 Salem/Hope Creek.
20 Now,wo was previously interviewed on 21 May 5th, 2003, about allegations tha made 22 to the NRC earlier in the year tha f was suffering 23 a pattern of discrimination becauseADIad raised some
- 24. concerns.
25 That case was closed and is in the process NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCR ERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
4 1 for staff review, and because of the newest issue that 2 came to the attention of the NRC in September of 2003, 3 we opened a supplemental to disposition, and I will 4 read you specifically what this issue is.
5 The subject of the interview concerns an 6 allegation that senior engineer at 7 Salem/Hope Creek, is continuing to be discriminated 8 against because ,*'raiseda safety concern in August 9 of 2002.
10 believes that as a result of 11 raising that concern that received an 12 unsatisfactory mid-year performance appraisal on 13 August 29th, 2003. Potential violations are still the 14 same; 50.5, which is deliberate misconduct, and 50.7, 15 which is entitled, "Employee Protections."
16 And when I interviewed you in May, I 17 explained that it was under oath and that you are 18 still under that requirement.
19 I understand.
20 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And is it still 21 your preference to have Jeff Keenan represent you for 22 purposes of this interview?
23 9 _ 3 Yes, that's correct.
24 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Just explain to me 25 just generally what the mid-year performance appraisal NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRI ERS OU j o.
1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.N.W.
5 1 is,a nd if that differs in any way from what the 2 annual performance appraisal is as far as 3 requirements.
4 Okay. First it is an 5 employee performance appraisal system. We have a mid-6 year performance appraisal, and it is meant as a 7 course adjustment opportunity. We look at an 8 employee's performance, and if there is areas that 9 need to be improved, changed, it is an opportunity to 10 discuss it with the employee and identify those areas 11 that need improvement.
12 The final performance appraisal at the end 13 of the year sums up the year's activities, with 14 emphasis on towards the end of the year behavior and 15 is a factor in your raises for the next year.
16 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. I saw that 17 there were two sections. Section A, which is 18 entitled, "Core Job Performance Objectives," and 19 Section B, which is power behaviors. Would you 20 explain what a core job performance objective is?
21 A core job performance 22 objective is the part of an employee's goals for the 23 year that tie directly or an employee's activities 24 that can be directly tied to the business plan for the 25 company and the department. So it is our individual NEAL R. GROSS PDOLMa COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
6 tie and things we can influence tied to the business 2 plan.
3 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. And what is 4 the power behaviors?
5 " Power behaviors are a set of 6 behaviors created by our corporation that represent 7 key ways that we should behave that they believe will 8 result in an excellent corporation. So exceeding in 9 those behaviors should mean that we are doing well as 10 a corporation.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:. Okay. Going right 12 to the essence here, I just want to point out first of 13 all that (joverall performance rating for this 14 mid-year was satisfactory?
15 That's correct.
16 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: That is on page 9 17 of 11. So that means that once everything was i
18 balanced out, one is where you have been highly I i
I 19 competent, and one area where " was unsatisfactory, 20 resulted in an overall satisfactory?
21
- That's correct.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: So i stated to 23 the NRC tha tW received an unsatisfactory performance 24 appraisal for the mid-year is not accurate; is that 25 right?
- PEXUDE74s tL NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
1 I agree that it is not 2 accurate.
3 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. Now going to 4 page 8 of 11, and where *-is specifically raising e 5 concern, it shows mid-year rating unsatisfactory, and 6 it is power behavior number 6. Engenders respect and 7 trust. Through character and competence, exhibits 8 trustworthiness. Treats others with respect and 9 trust. Seeks out the opinions of others, and 10 encourages open communications. So that is what%*tis 11 tasked with doing?
12 Yes.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: How do you gather 14 data or observations to see if s fulfilling 15 that one particular behavior, power behavior?
16 Well, as a 'supervisor, you 17 can observe behaviors, hear feedback from others.
18 When I was _ supervisor, we sat in an area that 19 was 30 foot *by 30 foot, and I am within 15 feet of 20 him, and so it is easy to see my interactions directly 21 with h and m_ interactions with others, -and 22 half the phone calls, and plus I get to see _
23 results to some degree also.
24 And essentially is influencing others 25 to get their job done when necessary, and which could NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBE S 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
ease. n..4 SAd s ,ASr*-,$-z--l_-lug . n OO qWfl4 _
8 1 be part of the respect and trust.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. You 3 indicated to me when I interviewed you that you 4 initially had a pretty good relationship wit 5 _I don't think you characterized it as 6 friends, but a good working relationship.
7 That's right. We had a 8 professional working relationship, with appropriate 9 interactions.
10 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Exactly. And after 11 this NRC issue of raising safety concerns, it became 12 tha n-0 would not initiate any conversations, an m 13 would pretty much just answer a question as you asked 14 it.
15 That's correct.
16 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: That's how you 17 characterized it back in May.
18 Right.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Which seems to be 20 consistent with what your behavioral management 21 feedback was tcr in August.
22 Yes, the same behavior 23 continued. I would say hello and I went get a blank 24 stare. I would ask a question on a topic, and I would 25 get the briefest possible answer responding to that, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIB S
S 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
9 1 with no corollary discussions or the appropriate 2 interactions that I think a supervisor and employee 3 need to have, particularly when I am the leader of the 4 group, and need to influence the direction and tone of 5 the group.
6 If we are not having those discussions, it 7 is an inappropriate dictatorship that is not good for 8 the group.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. Prior to it 10 being documented on the mid-year, did you have any 11 discussions with indicating that this is an 12 ongoing issue, and we are not having a good 13 communication, and was* aware of it I guess is my 14 point before reading this in August?
15 We had one discussion, and 16 I can't zero in on the time frame, but it would have 17 been before this performance appraisal, when I said, 18 _ we have got to get over this hurdle, and start.
19 working together as professionals, and I had no 20 response to that, and things did not change after that 21 discussion.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. Did anybody 23 observe -- was Human Resources or anybody involved 24 during this conversation?
25 No. I mean, there may have NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 been others in the group who heard it.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. And the best 3 way to time frame it, was it before or after I 4 interviewed you in May and you tried to approach this 5 with 4 R?
6 It would have been after 7 May.
8 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: After May. Okay.
9 So ^ was aware of it and would not have been 10 surprised to see that documented in here for 11 No, I don't believe so.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Now recent 13 acceptance of the TARP assignment occurred with the 14 single word, fine, and whic x followed up with a de 15 facto refusal via an e-mail, which stated a medical 16 restriction of duty that was known at the time of 17 acceptance.
18 Let me back up. I made a time line just 19 because both of us had not looked for a while, but on 20 of last year, 2002 was sent home on 21 decision making leave.
22 Yes.
23 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And your 24 expectation was for to come back on Monday, the 25 12th, and give you eision on being on the TARP NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIS RS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
11 1 team.
- was actually out on sick leave or out on 2 leave for that week of the . came back on the 3 19th and returned to work.
4 And your testimony was that Z kind of 5 just said whatever, or whatever I have to do, and is 6 about as much of an acceptance that you could get. So 7 that was on August 19th.
8 And which* -followed up with a de facto 9 refusal via an e-mail, and are you talking about 10 following up in the August 2002 time frame?
11 It is a completely different 12 scenario.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
14 About a week before the e-15 mail of August 14th, 2003, and which was roughly the 16 Monday before August 4th, I tol that it was time 17 for rotation of TARP positions, and it was now_
18 turn to be a TARP member again. At that point, 19 response was fine.
20 Obviously the total response on that date, 21 and so that was an acceptance, and I assumed tha 22 was taking the job. A week later, I got this memo 23 saying I am unable to drive, and it is essentially 24 telling me that I cannot be on the TARP team, and so 25 it is essentially contradictin ffacceptance of the NEAL R. GROSS P'VI COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCR BERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE. N.W.
12 1 TARP team a week earlier.
2 So that is what I described as the de 3 facto refusal in an untimely way, since clearly 4 knew that was on the -- or was restricted at that 5 time point, and I just thought it was a less than 6 forthright way to deal withi3supervisor. So it was 7 in my eyes an unsatisfactory behavior.
8 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. Because when 9 <*returned in August of 2002;m was sent back to a 10 return to work exam?
11 Right.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And then out of 13 that came the fact thatd was on some medications and 14 we are not going to discuss what they are 15 specifically, but it would impact
- ability to 16 respond to TARP. And did_ make your aware of the 17 medications that was on when he returned to work?
18 In 2002?
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: In 2002.
20 Yes, in 2002,ijrmade me 21 aware of those drugs. This has been over a year, and 22 it seemed reasonable to me to ask for -- well, I 23 shouldn't necessarily expectq to still be on a drug 24 that at the time was characterized as temporary for a 25 specific condition.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCI8ERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
13 1 did not mention it when I 2 offered , or proposed that *, needed to be on TARP 3 again. So it came up in a memo, which I just did not 4 consider to be a behavior that engendered respect and 5 trust.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. You kind of 7 anticipated one of my questions. Did you as t at 8 the time you made the -- telling on August 4th 9 that it is time to rotate through, did you as i 10 jl as still on any medication that would prohib?
11 from accepting the assignment, or being able to 12 fulfill it?
13 No.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Any reason why you 15 would not have followed up with that?
16 The response of fine to me 17 is an acceptance of the job with no restrictions.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. So that is 19 on August 4th of 2003.
20 About a week before that.
21 MR. KEENAN: Yes, just to clarify. This 22 memo was August 14th, 2003. So what time frame were 23 you talking to I 24 About a week before this 25 letter.
NEAL R. GROSS LO)ag COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W
14 1 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: I have a calendar 2 around here somewhere.
3 I am not going to be able to 4 zero in on when.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. But it is 6 approximatel befor sent you this e-mail?
7 8 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Which leads you to 9 believe at the time thatiftccepted the assignment or 10 said fine.
11 Yes.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Andft new that*
13 was on the medication and wasn't going to be able to 14 accept it.
15 - Right.
16 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Had declined it 17 on that time when you told that it was time to 18 rotate through and said that I am still on this 19 medication, would the outcome in -mid-year 20 performance appraisal have been somewhat different?
21 Yes.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And in what way 23 would it have been different?
24 I would not have mentioned 25 the -- well, it would not have been discussed here.
NEAL R. GROSS.
COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
1 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. If
- had 2 been up front and said that I am still on it and I 3 still can't take the assignment, then that would have 4 been the end of it?
5 _ That's correct. And my 6 response still would have been please have this 7 recertified with medical since it has been over a 8 year.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. And that is 10 what did, t had to go back and have it 11 recertified, I guess, in August?
12 I askedja to do that and 13 that was the reason of the e-mail, and I have had no 14 further contact with eithefjn. or the medical 15 department. And as soon as I say go to medical, I am 16 out of the decision process until they give me an 17 answer.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Right. And then 19 the bullet -- this repeat behavior shades the core of 20 this behavior. What does that mean?
21 Well, id it in 2002 in 22 my eyes, and in our discussion on Return to work, 23 s said, yes, I am available for TARP, and then 8 24 hours later, or 6 hours6.944444e-5 days <br />0.00167 hours <br />9.920635e-6 weeks <br />2.283e-6 months <br /> later, I get a phone call 25 saying that I am not fit for duty.
NEAL R. GROSS '7 L COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBPRS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
16 1 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Because I am on the 2 medication.
3 Right.
4 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. W 5 behavior is a significant oppression of open 6 communication. What do you mean by that?
7 I guess I didn't select the 8 right word, but the intent I was trying to state was 9 tha is oppressing open communication. I mean, 10 just refusal to talk to me resulted in our not 11 having dynamic group discussions, open discussions of 12 alternatives. It just essentially put a damper on the 13 improvement of the entire group in my judgment.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. Were other 15 people aware of the non-communicative nature?
16 - Oh, absolutely. I can 17 remember the first time tha had actually said a 18 couple of sentences to me, and a guy in the group 19 commented that is the first time I have heardInj 20 said two sentences to in a year, and so it was 21 well observed.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
23 iAnd in this overall -- you 24 know, the area that I truly found unsatisfactory as I
- 25 stated was interaction with me. So that behavior NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS /
r 1p 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
17 1 of just not talking with me was the unsatisfactory 2 part.
3 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
4 And I added the second 5 paragraph as some evidence or example of that.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. I understand 7 that. Now, because 0received an unsatisfactory on 8 this particular power behavior, what doe _ have to 9 do other than thatl rote that I disagree with the 10 feedback and believe the facts do not support his 11 conclusions.
12 Let's put this one section 13 in context. There is two sections. In case, 14 they each count for 50 percent. In fact, my entire 15 group, we can even have differences in how sections 16 are weighted.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Are weighed you 18 mean?
19 Yes. And from my entire 20 group, the core job performance objectives and the 21 power behaviors were both worth 50 percent.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
23 And that is indicated there.
24 Each of the power behaviors represents one-eighth of 25 the total power behaviors score.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIB 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: So it is one-eighth of 50 percent?
2 3 Yes, and so it boils down to 4 a little over 6 percent that this section represents.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
10 6 - Again, the mid-year is a 7 course correction opportunity, and I think I presented 8 this to that way, and I said that prompt 9 improvement of these behaviors is required in my wrap 10 up at the end.
11 I had proposed to _ that still has 12 an opportunity to do very well, but just needs to 13 change behaviors.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. So because i5 " got one unsatisfactory in that power behavior that 16 is one-eighth of 50 percent, this does not sein on 17 the course for termination?
18 Hardly. It is not even a 19 pimple on the road to termination.
20 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. Because*J 21 feels that is on the road. Was there any 22 discussion with that this might lead to I
3 23 termination offt employment?
24 No, no discussion. The only 25 discussion that we had was that it is mid-year and you NEAL R. GROSS e 1C5 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
19 1 need to change your course, and you need to properly 2 change and you have a good chance for having a good 3 performance review at the end of the year.
4 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And no mention of 5 termination to n any way?
6 Not at all. It was a 7 positive mid-year performance review, and where I 8 emphasized that needed to change some things, and 9 it was at a time when I was pretty sure I wasn'j^
10 supervisor, and I emphasized that has a new 11 opportunity with a fresh supervisor, and ifw flies 12 right, *s hould do well.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. And the new 14 supervisor wa 15 16 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And did you have 17 any discussion with. about past 18 refusal to take the TARP assignment, or are you just 19 lettin9_ observe _ on ) own?
20 I gave very global 21 overview of the trouble andw has no details.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. What would 23 your global overview be?
24 That didn't accept our 25 TARP position and I have been working hard to get NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS g l 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
20 1 to take it.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: How long can you go 3 on not accepting an assignment? At some point in 4 time, is it going to become a larger performance issue 5 than it is?
6 _ Well, did accept it.
7 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. is 8 accepting it, b otdoing it.
9 A medical issue is 10 legitimate. I mean, we have got laws that protect us, 11 and I think we all have the same protection when we 12 have disabilities or issues.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: But how do you 14 distinguish if someone really has a disability or --
15 I have to trust our medical 16 department and human resources department to make that 17 judgment.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. So you just 19 pass it on and saying that this is whallais still 20 on, and what is your assessment of it, and so it is 21 out of your hands then?
22 . _ Right. Yes.
23 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.A* I have 24 asked you a number of questions. Is there something 25 that I may not have asked you specifically, or any NEAL R. GROSS IeA4)
COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS I 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
21 1 part of your testimony that you would like to clarify 2 at this point in time?
3 ~ I am okay with my testimony 4 and I have nothing to add.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. And as in 6 the past, we will make arrangements for you to review 7 the transcript for accuracy like we did before, and 8 that is part of the process. And again in closing 9 have I offered you any reward for your testimony?
10 No.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Did I threaten you 12 for your testimony?
13 No.
14 / SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And did your 15 provide your testimony voluntarily?
16 Yes, I did.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And we will go off 18 at 5:16 p.m. Thanks.
19 (Whereupon, the Interview was concluded at 20 5:16 p.m.)
21 22 23 24 25 . QWfyoy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:
Name of Proceeding: Interview of Docket Number: 1-2003-OlOS Location: Artificial Island, NJ were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings as recorded on tape(s) provided by the NRC.
Paul Intravia Official Transcriber Neal R. Gross & Co., Inc.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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