The union leader representing headquarters employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency called on one House lawmaker to investigate alleged wrongdoings in FEMA and went so far as to call for the resignation of FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison.

As chair of a House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., will be leading a good deal of oversight of FEMA during this Congress. The union leader is urging the lawmaker to take a hard look at FEMA.

Holmes Norton would not comment on a 19-page letter she received late Monday from FEMA union head Leo Bosner, who represents about 400 headquarters employees, about 90 of whom pay union dues. However, her spokeswoman said she will address the issues at upcoming congressional hearings.

In his letter to Holmes Norton, Bosner outlined the decline of FEMA once it became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. He also raised issues he considers to be currently plaguing the agency, such as allegations of racial and gender biases, Paulison’s unwillingness to sit down with him to discuss union concerns and the hiring of ex-military officials.

But FEMA, which has yet to see the letter sent to Holmes Norton, refutes several of Bosner’s allegations and contends that many are unsubstantiated.

For one, Paulison holds quarterly meetings with leaders of all unions representing FEMA employees, says FEMA spokesman Aaron Walker. “Paulison and [deputy FEMA administrator] Harvey Johnson are absolutely committed to working with the unions,” Walker said.

Bosner, however, has refused to participate in these Labor Management Partnership Committees meetings, Walker said. “Leo Bosner has taken himself out of a relationship with the FEMA administration,” he said. “He would get a lot more traction on some of those concerns by going to those meetings than sending letters to appropriators and authorizers.”

Bosner said he stopped participating in those meetings because there is very little time for concerns to be heard. After Paulison was confirmed last summer, Bosner sent him a congratulatory e-mail and said he would like to sit down with him. Paulison agreed, but Bosner later heard from the agency’s human resources division that Bosner was to deal with Human Resources on these issues and not Paulison directly.

As to the allegations of race and gender bias, Walker said the agency’s equal employment opportunity office is aggressively pursuing all complaints on file. Walker was not aware of an instance Bosner raised to Holmes Norton in which he said female employees in FEMA regional offices are asked to get coffee for their male managers, and clean their male managers’ offices.

“In some cases, ‘old boy’ networks of male executives at field offices are reported to have sexually intimidated and even groped young female employees, in some cases telling the female employees that sexual liaison will lead to the female employees’ job enhancement,” Bosner wrote.

To this, Walker said Bosner should provide specific examples.

Bosner also complained that FEMA was hiring ex-military and former Coast Guard employees. Walker said it’s standard practice in the federal government to give hiring preference to veterans. “Is he suggesting we not follow guidelines,” Walker said. “We hire the best qualified candidate.”

While Bosner has asked Holmes Norton and her congressional colleagues to investigate these issues, Paulison has previously requested that lawmakers let the agency do its job and adjust to the organizational changes instead of conducting more investigations.

FEMA was recently reorganized in a mandate from Congress late last year prompted by what lawmakers considered an inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. There was a push to remove FEMA from DHS and restore it to an independent agency — an appeal Bosner is currently making again to Holmes Norton — but lawmakers came to an agreement to keep FEMA within the department and strengthen it.

Earlier this year, Peter T. King, the House Homeland Security Committee’s ranking member, pledged his oversight of FEMA’s reorganization. Referring to FEMA’s swift response to Florida tornadoes this past February, King, R-N.Y., said Feb. 7, “It appears that FEMA moved quickly, moved effectively and that Director Paulison is doing a fine job.” King added, “But again, the full verdict is not in, and more remains to be done. And it is certainly a work in progress.”

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general has said it will continue investigating FEMA, including FEMA’s contracting practices. And Tuesday the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee requested that the Government Accountability Office review how the federal government will coordinate mass care after a major disaster.

“Rather than continuing investigations into every aspect of the organization,” Walker said, “time would be better spent allowing us to do our jobs and serve the American people.”

Concluding his letter to Holmes Norton, Bosner said top-level leaders are responsible for knowing what is going on in their agency and for taking steps to see that the problems are resolved.

“I hope that Congress will investigate the issues raised in this letter and will take actions now to restore FEMA to its former strength and credibility,” Bosner wrote.

Eileen Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@cq.com.