Whistleblower Allegedly Exposes Vast Abuse Within IRS Union

Whistleblower Allegedly Exposes Vast Abuse Within IRS Union

CONNOR D. WOLF
Reporter
1:31 PM 04/02/2016

Unionized government tax collectors have been subjected to consistent abuse and corruption from their labor representatives, according to an inside source.

Attorney Jane Kim has worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in New York for roughly 12 years. She alleges that in her time working for the tax collection agency, she has seen rampant abuse and corruption from the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). She tried to expose the abuse, only to be ignored by officials at every level of the union.

“I mean it’s like Jimmy Hoffa-level of abuse and corruption,” Kim told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Colleen Kelley was the national president, I’ve copied letters that she and I have exchanged where she’s basically telling me to go to hell even though I’m telling her all these unbelievable abuses going on here.”

Kim notes that as an attorney she knew to document and report the many instances of alleged abuse. She saw how the union divided agency employees into a caste-like system. The employees who did the union’s bidding got special treatment, while everyone else was emotionally abused and ransacked with legal complaints if they spoke out. Nevertheless, Kim was consistently ignored.

“They just go around and tape-record and spying on the other employees so the union can set them up with false allegations and false charges and have them investigated.” Kim said. “They get all the favors, they don’t work, they get all the cash bonuses, they get all the promotions over the hardworking people.”

Jane alleges the union creates an environment of intimidation to keep those workers who aren’t favored quiet. Some employees work full-time as union stewards instead of doing their actual jobs in a common practice known as release time. They get to keep their pay and benefits for doing union work instead of what they were hired to do.

“I have had four false investigations based on false charges against me,” Kim said. “They go around tape-recording so, like me, if you say something to criticize them, because they’re driving people to insanity, if you say something critical of them they file a charge against you for creating a hostile work environment.”

The union allegedly tried to silence Kim when she first began making accusations in 2014. Labor officials accused her of promoting an unsafe work environment. She was also accused of crafting a written death threat against a steward, but she denied involvement. They also tried to exaggerate her complaints.

“They said I was a workplace violence threat so they had the IRS Attorney General investigate me for over a year and look through the last five years of my workplace emails,” Kim said. “They interviewed numerous of my colleagues in private interviews. They asked if I had ever lost my temper.”

Kim notes that the investigation against her found nothing. She has since filed charges with other federal agencies, knowing she wasn’t going to get help from within the union. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the main federal agency tasked with resolving discrimination and unfair work practices. She has helped other employees file some pending complaints with them.

“I filed with every government agency imaginable,” Kim said. “There is absolutely nothing management can do about this if the union chooses just to back their abusive stewards. There’s not even a vote, you don’t even vote in the stewards. They get appointed by the chapter president who is appointed by the national president who is voted for by the chapter presidents.”

The IRS has been under increased scrutiny over allegations that officials abuse their power and unfairly target political groups they don’t like. The Senate Finance Committee released a report detailing alleged rampant abuse throughout the agency. Republican Sen. Tim Scott introduced abill to rein in union power to make the agency less partisan, but it seems to have fallen to the wayside.Kim believes current NTEU President Anthony M. Reardon is very much aware of what has been happening and is allowing the toxic culture to continue.

The New York IRS offices, NTEU, Scott and the fiancee committee did not respond to a request for comment by TheDCNF. The national IRS office said they are looking into the accusations.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/02/wh...hin-irs-union/