President Biden fired a longtime U.S. Railroad Retirement Board official on Friday after an investigation determined he created a toxic work environment at the federal agency.
Similar allegations against at least two White House officials, however, appear to have gone uninvestigated and they remain in office.
Biden, 81, informed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of his decision to fire U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Inspector General Martin Dickman for cause, according to multiple reports.
An investigation into allegations that Dickman fostered a hostile work environment was launched by the Board of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency in January 2023.
The investigation concluded that Dickman, who had worked for RRB since 1994, engaged in abusive treatment of employees, used inappropriate language — including insults — and belittled staff, according to Hill.
Dickman is currently on administrative leave and will officially end on April 28, according to the outlet.
Nearly a dozen current and former colleagues of first lady Jill Biden’s top aide, Anthony Bernal, told The Post that the White House official bullied and verbally and sexually harassed his colleagues for more than a decade.
Unlike Dickman, Bernal remains employed, and the president’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, dismissed the allegations against Bernal without investigating.
“The President and First Lady have full confidence in Anthony’s character, as do I. His many fans at the White House know him to be both gracious and tough, holding himself to the highest standards and with a heart dedicated to public service,” Zients told the Post earlier this month. “It is disappointing that he is the target of unfounded attacks from anonymous sources. »
Bernal denied the allegations in the Post article: “These baseless attacks are not true. »
Allegations of promoting a “toxic” work environment have also been leveled against Biden’s “drug czar,” Dr. Rahul Gupta.
Several current and former members of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told Politico last month that Gupta, the office director, pressured aides to raise his public profile at the expense of of fighting the opioid epidemic in the United States, and that the former practicing doctor fumes when his travel arrangements don’t suit him.
In one case, the Biden administration official reportedly canceled a trip that had been in the works for months because he refused to fly on Southwest Airlines. In another bizarre episode, Gupta allegedly demanded that staff put him in a different hotel room after measuring the square footage of the room already reserved for him and determining it was too small.
Gupta was also criticized by a former staffer for not supporting and rarely listening to aides recovering from substance use disorders who work in his White House office.
Biden told political appointees on his first day in the White House that he would fire them “on the spot” if “I hear you treating another colleague with disrespect, talking down to someone A “.
“No ifs, no buts,” he added.
The White House did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
New York Post
