Some would describe VW’s current situation as bad, but according to a company ex-worker, things can get much, much worse for the German car manufacturer.
As if being accused of cheating on emission tests wasn’t enough, the German colossus allegedly deleted documents after the company was exposed for its misdemeanors. According to Western North Carolina, whistle-blower Daniel Donovan says he was wrongfully fired on December 6, 2015, after refusing to participate in the “evidence deletions”.
The former VW employee alleged in a lawsuit that the removal process went on for three days after the carmaker faced allegations from the EPA. Donovan worked as a technology employee and was responsible for electronic information management in injury and product liability cases, and the lawsuit said his firing occurred “because of his refusal to participate in a course of action that would spoilate evidence and obstruct justice”, as Volkswagen of America believed he was about to report the actions to the EPA of the FBI.
On the other hand, VW stated that Donovan’s departure from the company had nothing to do with the scandal: “We believe his claim of wrongful termination is without merit.”
We already know that Volkswagen faces a deadline on March 25 to come up with a solution to fix its 600,000 diesel-powered cars that were fitted (in the U.S. alone) with defeat devices that turned on pollution controls during treadmill tests, thus exceeding – in normal driving conditions – as much as 40 times over the legal amount of nitrogen oxide.
The consequences, as you may expect, are dire, with Volkswagen being sued by the Justice Department for up to $46 billion, while being prohibited to sell new diesel models Stateside.
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