The law was originally passed as part of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and has since been amended three times – in 1989, 1994 and 2012. The most recent update was the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), which was passed in November 2012. The WPEA includes important advances, including the expansion of the definition of «protected disclosure» and the ability of whistleblowers to collect damages. Federal law, 41 U.S.C. § 4712, prohibits federal contractors, subcontractors, fellows and subcontractors, and federal personal services firms from firing, demoting, or discriminating against their employees for making protected disclosures. Whistleblower laws and executive orders, which are specific to the United States. Intelligence personnel include the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 (ICWPA), Presidential Directive 19, and the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014. [70] Currently, national security whistleblowers do not have access to the courts to challenge reprisals. The current system of cracking down on whistleblowers in the intelligence communities against retaliation is entirely internal. However, congressional intelligence committees can intervene to ensure that the whistleblower is protected, and an appeal mechanism has been added in recent years. Under this framework, intelligence whistleblowers are not protected from retaliation if they express «disagreements on matters of public order,» but they are protected if they allege violations of laws, rules or regulations.
This makes it difficult for national security officials to ask questions about the overall legality or constitutionality of policies or programs run under secret law, such as the NSA`s mass surveillance programs. [71] An adverse measure is one that would deter a reasonable worker from raising concerns about a possible violation or engaging in other related protected activities. Retaliation can have a negative impact on overall employee morale. It is illegal for your employer to retaliate against you for making a «protected disclosure». A disclosure is protected if it meets two criteria: The EPA prohibits the protected disclosure of an employee (or job applicant) in order to influence the employer «to take, refrain from, threaten or refrain from taking or refraining from taking any personal action with respect to the employee or applicant.» A personal action is broad and includes evaluations, details, promotions, demotions, dismissals, access to training, etc. However, there are some restrictions of the Protection Act. For example, this law does not cover tax laws and does not regulate funds used for political activities. In these political campaigns, whistleblowing is more effective than in other organizations. Whistleblowers must provide information and other documents that can support their claims when filing a dispute. If they turn out to be lying, they can be prosecuted.
Sample analysis: Workers have the right to call OSHA to report a dangerous condition. Section 11(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act protects workers who file complaints with OSHA. By calling OSHA to complain about the fire hazard, the employee was engaged in a protected activity under one of the whistleblower laws administered by OSHA. She informed her employer that she had called OSHA. Her employer refused to change shifts just days after she was informed that she had called OSHA. In addition, she was the only employee who had been denied the opportunity to exchange shifts. Refusing to trade shifts is a detrimental measure. And in this case, it appears that her employer refused to exchange shifts because she was engaged in the sheltered activity. If the employer denied her exchange request because she appealed to OSHA, retaliation occurred and the employer`s actions violated Section 11(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Disclosure is protected under the WPA if the employee discloses information that he reasonably believes to be evidence: Another employee, Los Angeles Attorney General Richard Ceballos, claimed he was sanctioned for reporting. In a work-related memorandum, Ceballos discussed possible police misconduct. He was later demoted and transferred because of the memo.
An employee`s general philosophical differences or disagreements with Agency decisions or actions are not protected unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that such differences or disagreements constitute one of the above categories of misconduct (Webb v. Dep`t of the Interior, 122 M.S.P.R. 248, 252 (2015)). State ethics laws are a complex maze of unpredictable combinations. For example, all business interests and tax records are publicly available to a public employee because disclosure is required by the Ethics Reform Act 1989 (Pub.L. 101-194) and this information should be made available to anyone requesting this information under the Freedom of Information Act. This applies to all government employees, including elective and political appointments. Employees who work for private companies are also protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other federal whistleblowing legislation includes the Occupational Health and Safety Act; the law on whistleblowers for savings and loan beneficiaries; the Toxic Substances Act; the Super Fund Act; Sarbanes-Oxley to prevent retaliation against certain corporate whistleblowers; and laws governing air quality, clean water and mine safety.
