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| Sherry Chen will be reinstated in her job with the National Weather Service. |
ASAM NEWS
A JUDGE HAS ORDERED the reinstatement of a Chinese/American government scientist in Ohio who was fired after being wrongly accused of spying for China.
Chief Administrative Judge Michele Schroeder of the Merit Systems Protection Board has directed the National Weather Service to reinstate Sherry Chen, plus give her back pay and benefits, reports Xinhua.
The ruling which was also confirmed by the Sherry Chen Defense Fund stems from her arrest in 2014 and subsequent firing in 2016. Judge Schroeder ruled that the Department of Commerce which overseas the National Weather Service did not have just cause to dismiss her.
The case has been singled out by members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as an example of racial profiling of Chinese and Asian Americans.
In his 130 page decision, the judge called baseless accusations that Chen attempted to obtain secret information from a government data base for a Chinese official.
“We hope this decision sends a strong message to the federal government: stop targeting innocent Chinese Americans,” the fund said in a statement released following the judge’s decision.
“Three and a half years after her wrongful arrest in October,2014 and two years after her termination in March 2016, Sherry Chen finally has received justice,” said the statement.The judge completely rejected the DOC’s many allegations against Chen that arose from its claim that she purportedly attempted to obtain secret information from a restricted government database for an official in China.
Schroeder questioned the conduct of the DOC, in how it investigated Chen both before her arrest in 2014 and her subsequent termination in 2016. For example, the judge deemed it “inconceivable” that the DOC’s criminal investigators were selective and biased in producing their investigative reports.
The judge also found it “troubling” that before firing Chen DOC officials utterly failed to include in the DOC file a dozen sworn declarations from Chen’s co-workers that were “clearly relevant” to the termination decision.
The judge also excoriated DOC officials for “digging their heels in when it came time to support the decision they had made.” In short, he ruled, they seemed to be “more concerned about being right than doing the right thing.”
The judge also excoriated DOC officials for “digging their heels in when it came time to support the decision they had made.” In short, he ruled, they seemed to be “more concerned about being right than doing the right thing.”
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