Whistleblower Protection Act
Encyclopedia
Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989
The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 is a United States federal law that protects federal whistleblowers who work for the government and report agency misconduct. A federal agency violates the Whistleblower Protection Act if agency authorities take (or threaten to take) retaliatory personnel action against any employee or applicant because of disclosure of information by that employee or applicant. Whistleblowers may file complaints that they believe reasonably evidences a violation of a law, rule or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; an abuse of authority; or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.Authorized Federal Agencies
- The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates federal whistle-blower complaints, has had no leader since October 2008. That's when then-special counsel Scott Bloch resigned amid an FBIFederal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
investigation into whether he obstructed justice by illegally deleting computer files following complaints that he himself had retaliated against employees who disagreed with his policies. Then-Senator ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
made a campaign vow at the time to appoint a special counsel committed to whistle-blower rights. It was not until April 2011 that Obama administration appointee Carolyn Lerner was confirmed by the Senate.
- The Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency that adjudicates whistle-blower complaints, uses appointed administrative law judges who often back the government. Since 2000, the board has ruled for whistle-blowers just three times in 56 cases decided on their merits, according to a GAP analysis. Obama appointed a new chairperson and vice chairperson with backgrounds as federal worker advocates, but Devine says, "It's likely to take years for them to turn things around."
- The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, only court empowered to hear appeals of whistle-blower cases decided by the merit board, has been criticized by Senator GrassleyChuck GrassleyCharles Ernest "Chuck" Grassley is the senior United States Senator from Iowa . A member of Republican Party, he previously served in the served in the United States House of Representatives and the Iowa state legislature...
(R-Iowa) and others in Congress for misinterpreting whistle-blower laws and setting precedent that is hostile to claimants. Since Congress last revised the Whistle-blower Protection Act in 1994, the court has ruled for whistle-blowers in only three of 203 cases decided on their merits, GAP's analysis found. |By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY | 03/15/2010
Legal Cases
The U.S. Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, in the case of Garcetti v. Ceballos
Garcetti v. Ceballos
Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 , is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the First Amendment free speech protections for government employees. The plaintiff in the case was a district attorney who claimed that he had been passed up for a promotion for criticizing the...
, 04-473, ruled that government employees
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
do not have protection from retaliation by their employers under the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
of the Constitution when they speak pursuant to their official job duties.
Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act
The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act was introduced in 2009 by Senator Daniel AkakaDaniel Akaka
Daniel Kahikina Akaka is the junior U.S. Senator from Hawaii and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the first U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry and is currently the only member of the Senate who has Chinese ancestry....
(D-Hawaii) to amend federal personnel law relating to whistleblower protections to provide that such protections shall apply to a disclosure of any violation of law, except for an alleged violation that is a minor, inadvertent violation that occurs during the conscientious carrying out of official duties. Senator Akaka has introduced similar bills in the 107th
107th United States Congress
The One Hundred Seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2001 to January 3, 2003, during the final...
, 108th
108th United States Congress
The One Hundred Eighth United States Congress was the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2005, during the third and fourth years of George W. Bush's...
, 109th
109th United States Congress
The One Hundred Ninth United States Congress was the legislative branch of the United States, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007, during the fifth and sixth years of George W. Bush's presidency. House members...
, and 110th
110th United States Congress
The One Hundred Tenth United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the second term of President George W. Bush. It was composed of the Senate and the House of...
Congresses and every effort to pass the law has failed. Although a stronger version of the bill had been introduced and twice passed the House of Representatives (see H.R. 985 introduced in the 110th Congress and H.R. 1507 in the 111th Congress), the Senate repeatedly refused to adopt the stronger House version. During the 2008 presidential campaign, several candidates, including then-Senator Barack Obama, pledged to support the stronger House version of the bill (H.R. 985) if elected president.
In July 2009, Senator Akaka proposed a controversial amendment to S. 372 that further weakened the bill and contained several provisions that were insisted upon by the powerful federal agency managers lobby and the Obama administration. Despite campaign promises to support the stronger House bill, after the election, President Obama disappointed many when his administration actively supported the weaker Senate bill and Obama administration officials helped craft some of the controversial provisions contained in the Senate mark-up version of the bill in 2009. The Senate sponsors of S. 372 delayed presenting the controversial bill for full Senate approval until the latter stage of the lame-duck session of the 111th Congress. The Senate version of the WPEA contained only modest reforms of whistleblower rights and actually contained a few provisions that would have made it more difficult for federal employees to bring whistleblower claims. The Senate bill differed substantially from the House version and the delay tactics by the Senate sponsors of S. 372 ensured that the House was given only a take-it-or-leave-it option to take up the weak Senate bill. When the House finally considered the weaker Senate bill on the last day of the 111th Congress, the bill's sponsors needed a two-thirds vote to pass the bill on the House suspension calendar. Lacking the votes necessary to pass the weaker Senate bill, and to avoid objections raised by Republicans to the intelligence agency protections, the House sponsors of the Senate bill stripped out all protections for intelligence agency and FBI employees. The WPEA was killed in the Senate on December 22, 2010, when a senator placed an anonymous hold
Secret hold
In the United States Senate, a hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the Standing Rules of the United States Senate which allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor....
on the bill.
On the Media
On the Media
On the Media is an hour-long weekly radio program, hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, covering journalism, technology, and First Amendment issues. It is produced by WNYC in New York City...
and the Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project is a leading United States whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating of whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability...
have organized a grassroots effort using the Internet to attempt to determine which senator placed the anonymous hold. , only three senators had not denied placing the anonymous hold: Jon Kyl
Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.The son...
(R-AZ), Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions
Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected in 1996, Sessions is a member of the Republican Party...
(R-AL), and Jim Risch
Jim Risch
James Elroy "Jim" Risch is a Republican politician, rancher, and attorney from Ada County, currently serving as the junior United States Senator from Idaho. He previously served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Idaho.-Early life:Risch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
(R-ID).
The bill was reintroduced in the Senate with the protections for intelligence agency and FBI employees intact on April 6, 2011.
National Whistleblowers Center issued a statement on Re-Introduction of Whistleblower Protection Act, expressing their concerns that the Senate's new WPEA bill provides the Merit Systems Protection Board with sweeping new powers to dismiss whistleblower cases without a hearing and to act as gatekeeper for court access.
See also
- Whistleblower protection in United StatesWhistleblower protection in United StatesWhistleblower Protection provides freedom of speech for workers and contractors in certain situations. Laws, like the Ethics in Government Act, cannot be enforced if free speech is not protected for individuals that report corruption or crime in the workplace...
- False Claims ActFalse Claims ActThe False Claims Act is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies who defraud governmental programs. The law includes a "qui tam" provision that allows people who are not affiliated with the government to file actions on behalf of the government...
- Federal crimeFederal crimeIn the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is a crime that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation. In the United States, criminal law and prosecution happen at both the federal and the state levels; thus a “federal crime” is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law, and...
- Immunity from prosecution
- InformantInformantAn informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
- List of whistleblowers
- Qui tamQui tamIn common law, a writ of qui tam is a writ whereby a private individual who assists a prosecution can receive all or part of any penalty imposed...
- Telephone tappingTelephone tappingTelephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
- TestimonyTestimonyIn law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
- Turn state's evidenceTurn state's evidenceTo turn state's evidence is when an accused or convicted criminal testifies as a witness for the state against his associates or accomplices. Turning state's evidence is occasionally a result of a change of heart or feelings of guilt, but more often is done in response to a generous offer from the...
- WhistleblowerWhistleblowerA whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
- White collar crime
- WitnessWitnessA witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
- Witness intimidationWitness intimidationWitness intimidation involves witnesses crucial to court proceedings being threatened in order to pressure or extort them not to testify. The refusal of key witnesses to testify commonly renders a case with inadequate physical evidence void in a court of law...
- United States Federal Witness Protection ProgramUnited States Federal Witness Protection ProgramThe United States Federal Witness Protection Program is a witness protection program administered by the United States Department of Justice and operated by the United States Marshals Service that is designed to protect threatened witnesses before, during, and after a trial.A few states, including...
- United States Marshals ServiceUnited States Marshals ServiceThe United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
External links
- "Whistleblower Protection Act Information." U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. January 30, 2004. Retrieved May 3, 2007
- FAQs for filing a whistleblower appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board and Office of Special Counsel.
- OSC Form 11 for filing a whistleblower retaliation complaint.