Monroe County New York considers whistleblower protection measure
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports today that county legislators for Monroe County, New York, have proposed new whistleblower protections. The article says that Monroe County was rocked this year by a contracting scandal in which eight employees of one contractor have already pled guilty to petty larceny. A supervisor in the county's environmental services department and five other employees of the contractor were also arrested. Democrats proposed this Summer that the County's whistleblower protection be enhanced. A Republican leader refused to assign that proposal to a committee, but is now propomoting a Republican draft to strengthen county law for whistleblowers. I have asked county officials to provide me with both proposals so I can compare them to the National Whistleblowers Center model legislation. The new Republican proposal is still at the county attorney's office for drafting.
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Are all of those groups also using the results of the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey in their arguments to Congress regarding the need for protection? To the question "I can disclose a suspected violation of any law, rule or regulation without fear of reprisal," the positive responses were only 50.5% Governmentwide, 44.3% for the Environmental Protection Agency, and 37.6% for EPA Region 4 in Atlanta, for example. Obviously, the 50 to 64% of employees who don't feel protected under the current laws aren't likely to tell anyone when their managers are violating the laws Congress wrote, or violating or carrying out regulations differently than top political appointees expect, or wasting taxpayer money. That result, alone, should scare Congress into acting, and the taxpayers into demanding better whistleblower protection from their elected representatives.