Proposed Law: The Bureaucratic Accountability and Justice Act (BAJA)
Section 1: Title
This Act shall be known as the Bureaucratic Accountability and Justice Act (BAJA).
Section 2: Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to end the systemic abuse of American citizens by state government agencies that fail to provide fair and impartial treatment, particularly in cases of discrimination, retaliation, and whistleblowing. This Act ensures accountability, transparency, and the constitutional rights of individuals to seek justice independently when government agencies fail to act in good faith.
Section 3: Findings
Congress finds the following:
- The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (Chevron Deference) highlights the unconstitutionality of allowing unelected bureaucratic agencies to exercise unchecked power over individuals’ rights.
- State labor agencies, such as the Utah Labor Commission (UALD) and Utah OSHA (UOSH), have demonstrated patterns of bias, often siding with employers over employees in more than 90% of cases, according to civil rights advocacy data.
- Bureaucratic agencies routinely dismiss cases based on technicalities or manipulated interpretations of evidence, ignoring key evidence provided by whistleblowers and victims of workplace discrimination.
- In one specific case, the UALD and UOSH dismissed complaints of a whistleblower who provided overwhelming evidence, including photos, recordings, and testimony, proving the existence of mold and unsafe conditions in the workplace. These agencies ignored the evidence, twisted the whistleblower’s words, and dismissed the case based on irrelevant and unsupported claims from the employer.
- Agencies are exploiting legal loopholes, such as the 15-employee rule, to avoid accountability and deny justice to wronged employees. This is unconstitutional and further entrenches systemic bias in favor of corporations.
- The delays caused by bureaucratic inefficiency and overreach force individuals to wait years for justice, causing evidence to go cold, witnesses to forget, and victims to bear unnecessary legal expenses.
Section 4: Provisions
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Right to Direct Civil Action
- Whistleblowers and victims of workplace discrimination shall have the unconditional right to bypass state or federal agencies and pursue justice directly through civil courts.
- No state or federal agency shall require an individual to exhaust administrative remedies before initiating a lawsuit, provided the individual presents prima facie evidence of their claims.
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Mandatory Oversight and Accountability
- State labor commissions and similar agencies must implement independent oversight committees to audit their decisions for fairness and impartiality.
- These oversight committees must publish annual reports detailing case outcomes, including the percentage of decisions favoring employers versus employees.
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Transparency in Decision-Making
- Agencies must document and disclose all evidence considered in their decision-making processes.
- Failure to consider evidence submitted by complainants, including witness statements, photos, and recordings, shall result in an automatic appeal or transfer of the case to federal jurisdiction.
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Abolition of Deference to Bureaucratic Agencies
- The Chevron Deference precedent is explicitly rejected at the state level for labor and discrimination cases.
- Courts shall have the sole authority to interpret laws impacting civil rights, ensuring impartial adjudication.
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Whistleblower Protection Enforcement
- Whistleblowers shall receive robust federal protections and expedited access to independent judicial review if state agencies fail to act within 90 days.
- Retaliation by employers shall be met with significant penalties, including mandatory punitive damages awarded to the whistleblower.
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Addressing Specific Systemic Issues
- Legal loopholes such as the 15-employee rule shall be abolished to ensure equal protection for all employees, regardless of the size of the employer.
- States that have implemented immunity acts shielding themselves from accountability, such as Utah, shall be required to repeal such laws immediately.
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Citizen Oversight and Input
- A publicly accessible platform, Policies for the People, shall be established to allow citizens to submit grievances against state and federal agencies.
- Submissions to this platform must be reviewed quarterly by a bipartisan commission with authority to recommend reforms.
Section 5: Immediate Relief for Citizens
Given the urgency of ongoing abuse by state labor agencies, the provisions of this Act shall take effect immediately upon enactment.
- All pending whistleblower and discrimination cases shall be reviewed for adherence to constitutional standards.
- Individuals whose cases have been dismissed unfairly shall have the right to request an immediate independent review by a federal court.
Section 6: Enforcement and Penalties
- State agencies found to have engaged in systemic bias or negligence shall be subject to federal investigation and potential defunding.
- Officials responsible for deliberate manipulation of evidence or denial of justice shall be subject to removal from office and criminal prosecution where applicable.
Section 7: Severability
If any provision of this Act is found to be unconstitutional, the remaining provisions shall remain in effect.
Section 8: Conclusion
This Act affirms the fundamental rights of Americans to seek justice without interference from corrupt or biased bureaucratic agencies. It is enacted to protect the integrity of the democratic process and ensure that no citizen is denied their constitutional rights due to government inefficiency or overreach.
Urgency Clause
Due to the immediate harm being inflicted on American citizens by bureaucratic overreach, this Act is declared an emergency measure and shall be enforced without delay.
FROM MY FIRST SUBMISSION
Currently in the the state of Utah, people are not allowed to sue an employer for wrongful termination, even if they have solid evidence like recordings, photos, and witnesses, until after the state investigates first. What a waste of time and money! People are forced to go through the state first, and even then, the state usually sides with the employer, without even considering the evidence at all. They throw it out without evidence and leave people high and dry while they side with corporations. (Note: You say to choose tags, but the tag pull-down wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t see any relevant tags.)
The anti-discrimination (EEOC or UALD in Utah) department for both state and fed have a stipulation stating if a company has less than 15 employees, they can’t be charged with discrimination. So as long as someone has 15 employees or less, they can discriminate all they want? They’re violating the civil rights of the people being discriminated against. As I understand it, this fits within the Chevron Deference case and should no longer be enforced but they still are! This ridiculous stipulation must be removed immediately!
I was singled out based on my allergy to black mold (which affects my breathing) and then dismissed for blowing the whistle about them trying to hide the mold problem, after I presented physical proof. I have an hour long recording of the owner lying about mold and I can prove he’s lying with witnesses and photos as proof. I have the owner of the company recorded, in his own words, saying that he has thousands of employees. This 15 employee rule is being taken advantage of by big corporations because all they have to do is lie, saying they don’t have 15 employees when they actually have thousands, and then the state just takes their word for it, siding with the corporations. (I’m not speculating here. This is what my attorney is telling me and this is what I’m experiencing first hand.)
People are being denied justice for discrimination because these state agencies are siding with the corporations based on lies and hearsay.
Then there’s OSHA (or UOSH in Utah). (I was discriminated against and I’m a whistleblower.) I’m joint filed with both the federal and utah versions of OSHA. The federal seems a little more helpful than the state but the fed still defers to the state. And again, they have to investigate before they’ll allow me to sue. Again this company has lied about me and attacked my character without evidence. It’s all lies and hearsay and I can prove it. Yet, the state doesn’t bother looking at the evidence and they only have one person doing all the investigating right now. It’s a complete waste of time and money! Pure bureaucracy. Why do I need the state’s permission to sue when I have a ton of evidence!? This is a violation of my civil rights! And it needs to stop now!
This is urgent! I was dismissed in June of 2023 and because of the extra legal fees due to the state, I’m struggling to pay my bills and I’m losing my market place health insurance because losing the job put me into an insurance gap. I get too much alimony to qualify for Medicaid, but Healthcare.gov won’t allow me to enter alimony so then they think I qualify for Medicaid, which I don’t, so then I don’t qualify for marketplace help either. I needed the income from the job to qualify for marketplace assistance. And I was dismissed while my car needed repair and because the company slandered me with the agency they used, I can’t get another job! I needed a working car to get a job and I need extra income to fix my car. I’m stranded. And, as I said before, I’m not alone!
I can’t find an attorney who can help me with the state’s criminal behavior. I don’t know what to do or who to turn to. I’m not even sure posting here will help me. I feel like an invisible person who’s suffering and have no one to help me. And with how many cases (like 90%) the state sides with the corporations, I’m not alone. The state of Utah is clearly run by a bunch of criminals and people are being abused by bloated government in the state. I want to sue the state but regular people don’t have enough money to sue the corporations and the state agencies. I might have to take my IRA money out to just keep paying the bills and attorney fees. Because of thousands of dollars in legals fees I’ve had to pay because of state government bureaucracy, my bank account is going into the hole every month. I’m barely getting bills paid and there is nothing left over for food or gas. I’ve tried selling things but no one is buying. I’ve tried earning money from home but that hasn’t worked either. Not only does my car need repair, my registration tags are expired and I can’t afford the $400 dollars it will take to do that. (I hope we can get rid of the DMV too, because I’m tired of having to pay over fifty dollars to renew my license as well.) Please, we the people need help desperately! The states are all deep state too. The Chevron Deference Case needs to be enforced without every case needing to be challenged in court and it needs to apply to state government agencies as well as federal. Please make laws that the states can’t violate constitutional rights either.