News
JPL back to court in background check case
On Feb. 15 Jet Propulsion Laboratory employees will be back in district court concerning their lawsuit against NASA.
Twenty-eight
scientists and engineers at JPL filed the suit challenging NASA’s
requirement of background investigations that they contend are
unconstitutional. The background checks were required in 2007 by NASA
in accordance to a 2004 Bush administration directive.
Background checks are required by all governmental offices due to
this directive but each office can choose their own procedure, said
Virginia Keeny, attorney for the JPL employees. The investigations that
NASA required of their JPL employees can include interviews with
neighbors and fellow workers and can require information on the
employees’ health and sexual history.
The case has been heard in
district and the 9th Circuit Court. The most recent ruling made by the
9th Circuit upheld a December preliminary injunction. This meant that
all JPL/Caltech employees do not have to complete the background checks
until the case is decided in the district court.
“Prior to the
injunction we were told we were going to be terminated if we did not
complete the checks,” said Dennis Burns, one of the JPL employees that
joined the lawsuit. “They called it voluntary termination.”
Just
before the 9th Circuit ruling was released, the district court released
Caltech from the lawsuit. Caltech had been listed with NASA. Although
the circuit court decision included Caltech. “Caltech is out, by the
district court ruling however we are going to appeal that decision,”
Keneny said. She describes the Feb. 15 hearing as an organizational
meeting where future court dates will be set.