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

President Barack Obama signed into law today the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA). Whistleblower attorneys working pro bono with the NWC played an instrumental role in passing this Act. NWC’s Executive Director Stephen Kohn testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee and David Colapinto testified before the House Government Oversight hearing in support of the bill.

The bill contains important advances including an expanded definition of “protected disclosure” and permits whistleblowers to collect compensatory damages. Kohn and Colapinto worked for over two years to successfully block three “poison pills” that had been inserted into the law. These “poison pills” would have permitted the MSPB to summarily dismiss cases without a hearing, repealed existing protections for FBI whistleblowers and permitted the executive branch to fire whistleblowers for reporting “minor” violations of law.

“The bill contains important reforms, but federal employee still lack most of the basic rights available to whistleblowers in the private sector. We hope that President Obama and Congress will continue their efforts to ensure federal employees are fully protected during the next Congress.” Kohn said. “This is a small but meaningful step. “

Pursuant to this Act, its new provisions will become effective in thirty days. Click this link to view a copy of the WPEA.

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You can catch Dr. Coleman-Adebayo's lecture at the Mid-Manhattan Library on C-Span/Book TV starting tomorrow. Called No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph, the lecture draws on her book, NO FEAR: A Whistleblower's Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at EPA.  You can read our coverage of her book signing here.

C-SPAN will air Dr. Coleman-Adebayo's lecture:

Saturday, January 21st at 9:15am (ET)
Saturday, January 21st at 4:30pm (ET)
Sunday, January 22nd at 10pm (ET)

UPDATE: Dr. Coleman-Adebayo's lecture is now available from C-SPAN online.

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A grand jury report released Monday, July 11th, found that San Francisco’s whistleblower program is riddled with shortcomings. The whistleblower program is designed to protect public interest by encouraging employees to disclose waste, fraud, and abuse. However, the report concluded that the program: “angers and confuses whistleblowers,” “lacks an appeals system,” “does not foster transparency,” “lacks a comprehensive tracking system,” “deals with mostly low-level issues,” and “fails to create effective and independent oversight.” These program characteristics ultimately discourage any act of whistleblowing. According to the report by ABC San Francisco’s investigative team, Doctors Derek Kerr and Maria Rivero reported the misuse of a hospital’s “Patient Gift Fund,” which was intended to improve the hospital patients’ comfort. Instead, it was spent on “elaborate staff parties and travel.” Doctor Kerr was subsequently laid off and replaced. Doctor Rivero resigned under pressure and claimed that “anybody in their right mind would never go to (the whistleblower program).” Like the grand jury, Doctor Kerr believes the whistleblower program has “become a threat to whistleblowers.”

Ben Rosenfeld, the City Controller who oversees San Francisco’s whistleblower program, stated that although “there’s room for improvement,” the report did not cover the context by which his office has recovered taxpayer funds in the over 2,000 whistleblower cases since 2004. However, the grand jury concluded overall that the “whistleblower program in its current form has yielded underwhelming results as measured in dollars and cents.”

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We are deeply disappointed at the letter from Darshan A. Sheth, Acting Director of Public Affairs for the Office of Special Counsel (letter to the editor, Washington Post on Monday, July 26, 2010). There is bipartisan consensus that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is dysfunctional, and instead of suggesting reforms, the OSC responded to this criticism by obfuscating its record. This is a bureaucracy that has failed to protect whistleblowers for the past ten years.

The letter from the OSC fails to mention the most recent statistics it released, which show that during fiscal year 2008 the OSC ignored 95% of whistleblower disclosures without any investigation and obtained zero stays from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Indeed the letter notes that there is an “increase in the number of whistleblower reprisal complaints“ even as the OSC continues to do little or nothing to support the whistleblowers who file these complaints.

The only way for whistleblowers to be truly protected is if this defensive posturing by the OSC ends.  Real reform must occur, and President Obama must appoint a new chief watchdog at the OSC who will protect and champion the whistleblower. 

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As you know, the recent financial meltdown and the Madoff scandal have highlighted the importance of protecting whistleblowers.  Employees that have the courage to stand up for the protection of American taxpayers  should be treated with the respect they deserve.  As the new Administration and Congress prepare to revitalize the economy we must ensure that oversight and accountability are central part to any rescue plan.  You can sign our petition calling for stronger whistleblower protection here.

Another way to make change for whistleblowers a priority for the new Administration is to visit the change.org website and vote for "Protect government whistleblowers from reprisals" by midnight tomorrow, December 31st.

**You need to sign-up as a member to the site in order to vote.**

Ideas for Change in America is a project of Change.org, an online community and media network for social issues.  Ideas for Change in America is a non-profit citizen-driven project (not connected with the Obama Administration) that aims to identify and create momentum around the best ideas for how the Obama Administration and 111th Congress can turn the broad call for "change" across the country into specific policies.

The top 10 rated ideas will be presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009 as the "Top 10 Ideas for America."   Change.org will then launch a national campaign behind each idea and mobilize the collective energy of the millions of members of Change.org, MySpace, and partner organizations to ensure that each winning idea gets the full consideration of the Obama Administration and Members of Congress.

The "Top 10 Ideas for America" will be determined through two rounds of voting. In the first round, ideas will compete against other ideas in the same issue category. The first round will end on December 31, 2008, and the top 3 rated ideas from each category will make it into the second round. 

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Senator Barack Obama won the presidential election this week running as the candidate for change. The change he promised included bringing transparency and accountability back into the federal government.

During the past year, we have watched President-Elect Obama use his persuasive oratory to change the American political landscape. His oratory included strong public commitments to ensure effective government oversight and whistleblower protection. Workers desperately need a strong national whistleblower protection act. The recent authorization of 700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street made the need to protect whistleblowers even more urgent.

As President-Elect Obama prepares to announce his appointees, he has the chance to make immediate meaningful change a reality. There are many presidential appointments that have a direct impact on workers who blow the whistle on fraud and corruption. Such positions include key appointees within the Department of Justice who oversee billions of dollars worth of contractor fraud cases.

There are also relatively unknown positions that have tremendous impact on the lives and careers of thousands of whistleblowers. For example, the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board decides federal environmental, consumer safety and Sarbanes-Oxley Act whistleblower cases. Likewise, the Special Counsel has responsibility for protecting federal employees who expose waste fraud and corruption within the federal bureaucracy.

Both the Administrative Review Board and the Office of Special Counsel lost credibility and failed in their missions because of poor appointments by the previous administration. For example, mismanagement by the Bush-appointed Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch was so appalling that the FBI raided his home and office. Even President Bush was forced to fire him two weeks before the election.

To send an email to President-Elect Obama telling him to Take Action on whistleblower protection, CLICK HERE! 

The Office of Special Counsel is supposed to protect the public trust by shielding whistleblowers. President-Elect Obama must ensure that an experienced and competent advocate for whistleblowers is appointed as Special Counsel. He must force the Office of Special Counsel to fulfill its mandate to protect whistleblowers.

President-Elect Obama has a unique opportunity to bring change in these crucial areas that will protect workers with the courage and integrity to tell the truth. That’s the change we believe in. That is the change we hope and expect President-Elect Obama will bring to the federal government.

To view President-Elect Obama's survey responses please click here. 

To send an email to President-Elect Obama telling him to Take Action on whistleblower protection, CLICK HERE! 

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