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...
Whistleblower Protection
An introduction to gag orders and their whistleblowing relevance
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 continuing look at whistleblowing activity: Are there clarifying standards?
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...
Protected or unlawful: The whistleblowing line can be “blurry”
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....
What a potential federal whistleblower needs to know about safeguards
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,...
Whistleblowing behavior: a public service warranting strong protection
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...
Federal whistleblowers need to be free of employer reprisals
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...
NSA inspector general calls for a ‘robust whistleblower program’
Rob "It's a big federal government agency. It spends a lot of taxpayer dollars. And so, as a general matter, I think the public has a right to know how its funds are being spent," the National Security Agency's inspector general, Rob Storch, told NPR."I felt very...
Understanding whistleblower rights
When an employee witnesses harassment, discrimination or another illegal action at work, he or she should feel comfortable reporting the behavior.When an employee “blows the whistle” on the employer or company, the employee is protected by law. Unfortunately, some...
Special Counsel whistleblower backlog doubled from 2011 to 2016
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that the Office of Special Counsel's backlog of whistleblower and prohibited personnel practices cases almost doubled between 2011 and 2016, even though the OSC has been actively working to reduce it. The...