House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

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Rep. Maxine Waters issued an open letter to potential whistleblowers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) late last week.The California Democrat’s letter was addressed to agency employees who witness waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement. It asks that they “please do not hesitate to alert me and my staff” if they witness any such bureaucratic misconduct. Her action was in response to reports of low morale at the agency.

CFPB logoIn a Monday Washington Post column about Waters’ letter, Stephen M. Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, agreed —  with a caveat: “Whistleblowers are protected by federal law . . . Given the problems with federal whistleblower protection, we recommend that any whistleblower approaching Congress ensure that they can maintain anonymity.” He’s also noted that the system does not offer federal employees rewards, and access to federal court jury trials is limited. In addition, the WPA does not apply to intelligence and national security agencies. …
Continue Reading When Congress calls for whistleblowers, federal employees need to know their rights before answering

XI: IS FILING A NATIONAL SECURITY WHISTLEBLOWER CASE UNDER S. 372 MALPRACTICE PER SE?
Simply wasting many years and thousands of dollars in a new bureaucracy that Franz Kafka would have marveled at is not enough unto itself to say that filing a claim under the Senate provisions would constitute legal malpractice. However, Title II of S. 372 is not so benign. It is a retaliators fantasy.
Continue Reading What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill? – Part 11

X: IF IN DOUBT – THROW OUT THE CASE!
Buried at the very end of the national security whistleblower section of S. 372 is a grant of unprecedented power to the directors of the FBI, CIA, NSA and every other intelligence agency.
These directors are authorized to have any whistleblower case summarily dismissed, with no administrative or judicial review.
Continue Reading What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill? – Part 10

X: DUE PROCESS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY WHISTLEBLOWERS?
The national security whistleblower protection sections of S. 372 are a bad joke. They completely undermine any semblance of whistleblower rights, and ensure that no national security worker will ever prevail in a disputed whistleblower case.
Continue Reading What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill? – Part 9

VIII: WHAT HAPPENS TO NATIONAL SECURITY WHISTLEBLOWERS?
National security whistleblowers are the biggest losers in S. 372.
The Senate Homeland Security approved a bill that, if enacted, would seriously undercut national security whistleblower rights and set terrible precedent. It would in practice constitute an anti-whistleblower law.
Continue Reading What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill? – Part 8

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The NWC’s series “What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill” examining specific weaknesses in the Senate Bill will continue on Monday.

If you would like more information on the Senate Bill please read NWC General Counsel David K. Colapinto’s legal analysis or visit the NWC’s Federal Employee Whistleblower Protection page.

You can also…

VII: CAPS ON DAMAGES AND OTHER LITTLE GEMS
In addition to the problems already addressed in earlier postings, there are some smaller, yet still very important, problems that need to be addressed before the Senate votes on the final version of S. 372.
Continue Reading What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill? – Part 7

VI: WILL ANY FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EVER HAVE THEIR CASE HEARD IN FEDERAL COURT?
The short answer to this question is virtually, none.
When read together, the numerous “poison pill” provisions inserted into S. 372 all but guarantee that very few, if any, federal employee cases will ever be removed to district court for a real trial.
Continue Reading What’s Wrong With The Senate Whistleblower Bill? – Part 6