SANTA FE, N.M. — Two employees fired from New Mexico’s child welfare agency have filed a whistleblower complaint.
The lawsuit says they were fired for raising ethical and legal concerns. It’s the latest fallout from the use of the Signal messaging app by the Children, Youth, and Family Department. Couple Debra and Cliff Gilmore say they raised concerns over instructions to use a feature in the app that automatically deleted messages.
They worried the erasing ran afoul of state record retention laws governing writings of state government workers. The agency says use of the app’s features was legal and important for securing sensitive information about the at-risk children it protects.