A federal agency is seeking disciplinary action against former Federal Emergency Management Agency worker who directed workers helping hurricane survivors to avoid homes with yard signs supporting President Donald Trump, according to a complaint filed Tuesday.
The Office of Special Counsel found the former FEMA worker, Marn'i Washington, violated the Hatch Act, which restricts the partisan political activities of government workers, through her actions while in Florida in October helping survivors of Hurricane Milton.
Merit Systems Protection Board was filed by the Office of Special Counsel, whose leader was fired last week by Trump and reinstated by a federal judge on Monday after he sued the Republican president.
“A federal employee clearly violates the Hatch Act by engaging in explicit partisan political bias or activity when on the job,” special counsel Hampton Dellinger said in an emailed statement.
Dellinger, who was confirmed by the Senate last year to lead the Office of Special Counsel, was abruptly fired by Trump on Friday as part of the president's sweeping overhaul of the federal government.
