(C) Virginia Mercury This story was originally published by Virginia Mercury and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Virginia ABC official alleges further retaliation in whistleblower suit • Virginia Mercury [1] ['Meghan Mcintyre', 'More From Author', '- March'] Date: 2024-03-19 A high level employee of Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority said in a new court filing that a retaliation campaign against her is ongoing, prompted by her lawsuit last December alleging retribution by her employers after she reported “millions” of dollars of missing liquor inventory to state leaders. ABC Director of Retail Operations Jennifer Burke amended her lawsuit last week, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, to include new allegations of retaliation by interim CEO Thomas Kirby, who is also the authority’s Chief Enforcement Officer. The case claims the situation is “causing [Burke] severe emotional distress and damage to her reputation, among other damages.” “Basically, since the day the lawsuit was filed, [ABC] ramped up their efforts, meaning I’ve got enforcement agents following me,” Burke told the Mercury in an interview last week. Sarah Robb, Burke’s attorney, said ABC is expending a “great deal of effort” to retaliate against Burke which they could be using to fix the problems she brought to their attention in the first place. When asked about the claims in Burke’s lawsuit, ABC spokesperson Jeff Caldwell said, “We cannot comment on pending litigation.” Happy hour investigation Burke is currently facing disciplinary action after attending an annual happy hour with colleagues on Dec. 20, 2023, according to the lawsuit’s new details. The day after the gathering, an anonymous complaint was lodged against her to the Commonwealth of Virginia Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline. Burke alleged ABC launched a full investigation that scrutinized her “minute-by-minute whereabouts” the day of the happy hour gathering. During the course of the investigation, the suit claims, ABC would not tell Burke who made the complaint or what her alleged wrongdoing constituted. Armed ABC agents were sent to review footage and “interrogate” employees of the stores Burke visited on Dec. 20 and obtain the receipt from the restaurant they believed belonged to Burke from happy hour, the expanded suit claims, “even though Burke paid in cash and her name was not associated with the transaction.” Burke also claimed that ABC Chief Retail Operations Officer Mark Dunham’s assistant, Marjorie Bisbee, was taking pictures of her from the parking lot outside of the restaurant during the happy hour gathering. On Feb. 23, Burke received a notice of disciplinary action stemming from the happy hour that accused her of abusing state time, even though she said those types of happy hour gatherings are routine for employees and former CEO Travis Hill encouraged those types of outings for team building purposes. Additionally, Burke said she works 60-hour weeks. Now, Burke said, her use of personal time off is scrutinized, even if it’s only 10 minutes. No other director is micromanaged in this way, as “most come and go as they need in order to do their jobs and manage their lives.” It ‘gets worse everyday’ The lawsuit also claims Kirby has tried to silence Burke during meetings and directed her to only “speak when spoken to,” especially during meetings where members of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office are in attendance because “she is a whistleblower redressing her grievances in court.” Additionally, the suit claims ABC’s enforcement arm, under Kirby’s leadership, works against Burke. In one instance this February, Burke said she reached out to enforcement agents for assistance in helping secure a store where a gun was found. The suit alleges the agents did not answer her calls until the third attempt and responded to Burke “along the lines of ‘what are we supposed to do about this?’ and ‘We do not enforce policy; we enforce law.’” Enforcement agents provided assistance after Burke said she had to “practically beg” to make sure the store and its occupants were safe. She claimed there have been multiple instances where enforcement agents have followed her home, which she said is “no coincidence,” considering Kirby oversees the enforcement division. Burke further alleged that Dunham and Kirby “routinely blame anything that goes wrong relating to retail on Burke, even though correcting issues in retail is their responsibility, too.” The suit also claims that ABC has been changing policies related to retail without including or informing Burke, then holding her to policies she was unaware of. On Feb. 16, Burke reported the ongoing retaliation to Kirby and ABC Board Chair Tim Hugo; she said the pair have not “substantively responded” to her email. In order to access routine documents needed to do her job, Burke said she has to regularly file Freedom of Information Act Requests because her access is restricted, sometimes having to wait for days. The current work environment at ABC “gets worse every day,” Burke said, and employees fear retaliation if they speak up. “Now, when I go into the office people come by and peek in and whisper and say they’re so happy to see me today, because they’re afraid to say it out loud,” Burke said. She said the constant stress and micromanagement have affected her health, landing her in the hospital this February after a severe panic attack. She said she had to start taking anti-anxiety medication because of the ordeal. Still, Burke said she has no plans of quitting soon because she has “4,000 people that count on me to be their advocate and I can’t let them down.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://virginiamercury.com/2024/03/19/virginia-abc-official-alleges-further-retaliation-in-whistleblower-suit/ Published and (C) by Virginia Mercury Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/virginiamercury/