A bipartisan group of House members on Thursday unveiled a Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act (H.R. 5920), following movement last month on a similar bill in the Senate.
The bipartisan measure would give subgrantees and personal services contractors the same whistleblower protections currently afforded contractors, grant recipients and subcontractors.
“Whistleblowers are the front line of defense against waste, fraud, and abuse," read a joint statement from Reps. Elijah Cummings...
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Whistleblower Protections
Bipartisan Letter Questions Watchdog’s Whistleblower Program
Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). Photo via Flick't user Gage Skidmore.
Bipartisan Letter Questions DoD's Whistleblower Program
While it is clear that numerous deficiencies remain within the DoD’s system for handling cases of whistleblower reprisal, the Congressional letter is a welcome indication that concern over the unlawful treatment of whistleblowers by the Pentagon is garnering increasing external attention that could help catalyze reform.
A bipartisan group of Members of Congres...
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Limits On Whistleblower Suits Over Regulations
The U.S. Supreme Court made it a little harder for lawyers to press whistleblower lawsuits over minor violations of government contract terms, but the court’s unanimous decision in Universal Health Services v. Escobar might also make it harder for defendants to dismiss suits before entering the expensive evidence-gathering phase known as discovery.
The decision by Justice Clarence Thomas follows a middle path between the position of the government — that violating a single requirement, no m...
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Feds Order JP Morgan to Reinstate Whistleblower, Pay $200,000
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Federal labor officials have ordered JP Morgan Chase Bank to reinstate an employee who was fired for raising concerns over the firm’s failure to properly report financial transactions to government regulators.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the order Monday. It calls for New York-based JP Morgan to pay the employee about $200,000 in back pay, medical expenses and compensatory damages.
The employee was a loan delivery operations manager at...
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Volkswagen Employee Sues Seeking Whistleblower Protections Over Data Deletion
A German spokesman for Volkswagen declined to comment on the case, citing the fact that "as a matter of principle" the company didn't comment on legal proceedings concerning labor law, Reuters reported.
The Volkswagen scandal dates back to September, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discovered a so-called defeat device in the company's diesel cars. It turned out that those cars had software that could detect when the cars were being tested and would then improve test results ...
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Nuclear Workers Retaliated Against for Exposing Wrongdoing
In her job at the Savannah River Site nuclear weapons plant in South Carolina, Sandra Black was responsible for looking into concerns raised by employees about everything from health and safety to fraud, abuse, harassment and retaliation.
But in fall 2014, when federal investigators with the Government Accountability Office asked her whether she had the necessary independence to do her job, Black says she answered truthfully: She told them her supervisors had interfered with her wor...
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New Whistle-Blower Investigation Guidance From OSHA | Bloomberg BNA
Feb. 2 — The new OSHA Whistleblower Investigations Manual, issued Feb. 1, details the agency's revised requirements for deciding if a complaint should be fully investigated.
Also explained in the manual is when the agency may release or share investigative information.
While the 290-page manual is written for OSHA's staff investigators, the information is useful for anyone involved in a whistle-blower complaint. The manual (CPL 02-03-007) replaces guidance OSHA published in May 2015 (CPL 02-03...
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