On March 2, 2023, GEL Client, Cleo Subido, former Interim Director at OUC, filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia, OUC, FEMS, and Mayor Bowser, alleging that she was fired because of her efforts to increase accountability and transparency at OUC, and bring the Agency into compliance with regulations and national standards, in violation of the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act.
Ms. Subido served as the Interim Director for OUC, D.C.’s 911-call center, from January 2021 to March 2022. During her tenure as Interim Director, she disclosed what she reasonably believed were violations of law and regulation, gross mismanagement, and waste, fraud, and abuse occurring at OUC. She attempted to hold the agency accountable for its previous failures to promptly and properly respond to emergency calls, and implemented sweeping policy changes that improved its operations. Then, in March 2022, she was demoted and transferred to FEMS, where she worked as a liaison between FEMS and OUC. In November 2022, after Ms. Subido continued to identify and attempt to address OUC’s shortcomings from her post at FEMS, she was placed on administrative leave. Then, in January 2023, Ms. Subido was inexplicably fired.
Ms. Subido’s attorney, Mr. Taubenblatt, was quoted by ABC News 7 and Law 360 discussing Ms. Subido’s whistleblower claim. Mr. Taubenblatt said, “We believe that she was wrongfully fired, in violation of the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act, for not only speaking up about deep-seeded failures at OUC, but also taking meaningful action to address them and to bring transparency and accountability to the agency. Her actions proved inconvenient for an administration whose narrative was, and remains, that all is well at OUC.”
To read the ABC News 7 article, click here. For the Law360 article, click here.
Ms. Subido is represented by Keith Taubenblatt and Cori Cohen.