Whistleblower Protection Blog : Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

Dennis Brutus, died December 26th in Cape Town, South Africa, at the age 85. Dennis was one of the National Whistleblowers Center's founding board members. He is a world-renowned poet and was always a voice of the downtrodden and dispossessed. Dennis Brutus was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, of South African parents, who returned to South Africa after Dennis was born. He was exiled from South Africa in 1966. Brutus was a pivotal figure in the anti-Apartheid movement. He was a critical thinker who forged a strategy on how to bring the horror of Apartheid to world attention.

From his involvement with college sports, he realized that the South African Olympic team was not open to athletes with the best records if they were black.  Brutus was determined to seek the exclusion of South Africa from the Olympics.  He co-founded the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (“SANROC”) with the secret goal of documenting superior athletic performance by black athletes who, in violation of the World Olympic Charter, were kept off South Africa's Olympic teams.  When a representative from the World Olympic Committee (“WOC”) visited South Africa in 1963 Brutus broke into the meeting and presented the representative with SANROC's documentation and was swiftly arrested for violating his banning order.

A video of Dennis Brutus reading his poetic description of South Africa is available here.

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The African Press Agency reports that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has issued an Executive Order to protect anyone who discloses information about actions of impropriety against the public interest that is occurring, has occurred, or will occur in any public or private institution.  It is known as Executive Order #22, and is also called a Whistleblower Act.  The Act is expected to be submitted to the Liberian legislature for enactment, but already binds public and private employers through the Executive Order. The Act permits whistleblowers to bring claims in court for any alleged act of retaliation. Those guilty of retaliation will be subject to criminal penalties, including up to two years in prison.  The scope and severity of Liberia's Whistleblower Act already far exceeds that of any U.S. whistleblower protection law.  Congratulations to Liberia.

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Sen. Al Franken's amendment to bar use of mandatory arbitration agreements by defense contractors has now passed both houses of Congress.  Franken introduced his amendment in response to Halliburton/KBR's treatment of Jamie Leigh Jones. When Jones was 19, she began working for a Halliburton subsidiary, and had to sign employment papers that she did not understand. One of those papers contained an arbitration clause that required her to use arbitration, instead of a court or jury trial, for any claims arising from her employment.  In Baghdad, Iraq, her KBR co-workers drugged and raped her.  Halliburton confined Jones in a storage container without food or water until a guard allowed her to borrow a cell phone.  Her call to her father prompted State Department action to get her released.  Halliburton also took possession of the rape kit administered by a U.S. Army doctor.  Halliburton held it for two years and it was damaged when finally recovered.

Halliburton has stalled Jones' lawsuit for rape, sexual harassment, wrongful imprisonment and other claims by using its pre-employment mandatory arbitration agreement.  Sen. Franken's amendment would prohibit big defense contractors from using pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements with their employees in Title VII discrimination claims, or in tort claims for sexual assault and harassment, wrongful imprisonment, negligent hiring and some other claims.

In October, the Senate passed the Franken Amendment by a vote of 68 to 30. This week, a House-Senate Conference included the Franken Amendment in the final Defense Appropriate bill.  That bill has now passed the House by a vote of 395 to 34. Early this morning the Senate passed a cloture vote, by 63 to 33, clearing the way for final Senate approval.

With this Congressional affirmation of and employee's right to seek redress in court, it is now time for Congress to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act (AFA), H.R. 1020 and S. 931.  With the AFA, no employer could take away an employee's right to go to court.  Please check how your legislators voted with the links above.  If they voted yes for the Franken Amendment, thank them and ask them to co-sponsor the AFA.

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On Monday, the District of Columbia Council approved the Whistleblower Protection Amendment Act of 2009, which strengthens the DC Whistleblower Protection Act (DC Code § 1-615.51 et seq.) and The Employees of District Contractors and Instrumentality Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 (DC Code § 2-223.01 et seq.). I thank my friends O. Scott Oswald and Jason Zuckerman of The Employment Law Group for their work assisting the DC Council with this Act, and for letting us all know about it. Follow the link below for their summary of the improvements.

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