Whistleblower Protection

Acclaimed American author Joseph Heller is synonymous with the widely known phrase “Catch-22.” Legions of people are not only familiar with its meaning, but see its applications play out in very personal terms in their lives. Take the federal employment realm, for...

The Government Accountability Project. The National Federation of Federal Employees. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. The Project of Government Oversight. Whistleblowers of America. What does a list of entities like that – broad in itself, but supplemented...

Not every working individual in the United States is routinely happy with what goes on at work, of course. Some employees are harassed by managers or coworkers. Others are discriminated against because of a core attribute such as race, gender, age, national origin or...

Know your rights. Don’t be frightened and intimidated by chilling actions aimed at stifling what you feel is important to say. And don’t “sit on information that could help your agency and your country.” Those words of advice are passionately conveyed by principals...

Americans harbor strong views regarding government integrity. That is strongly evidenced by federal protections accorded individuals who take risks in stepping forward to report acts of wrongdoing in agencies and other work venues. Relevant safeguards seek to shelter...

A recent Forbes article terms it “a major question.” That assessment seems squarely on the mark regarding government and corporate whistleblowers who consider taking action to spotlight an employer’s unlawful conduct. Doing so can be an uncertain and risk-laden...

Following is a scenario that plays out in very real-world terms for select federal employees working in myriad agencies and departments. To wit: You’re a federal worker who has learned that managers at your workplace are breaking laws that harm the public interest....

Federal whistleblowers calling out government fraud, waste, abuse and other acts of malfeasance are sometimes portrayed as material wrongdoers or even criminals themselves. But only by the unlawful actors in agencies and other federal entities they target. In fact,...

Here’s an obvious question concerning fraud, waste and abuse within the federal government realm: What person will report it if he or she risks serious reprisal from an employer for doing so? Wrongdoing within the federal sphere takes broad-based forms. Agency...

Do American federal workers who perform an exemplary service that broadly benefits the public deserve kudos or an employer’s wrath and job termination? That’s not exactly a hard question to answer, is it? And yet despite the obvious response, it is sadly the case that...