What You Should Know About the Federal Whistleblower Protection Act

It was during 1989 when the Federal Whistleblower Protection Act or WPA came into force. The United States Congress approved the law in order to provide sufficient protection to whistleblowers that helped the government in recovering funds from individuals and businesses involved in various frauds. The Federal Whistleblower Protection Act effectively protects federal workers who step forward and report various illegal activities carried out directly by the agency or one of its divisions. This act provides great statutory protection to federal workers who blow the whistle.

Some of the most common features of the WPA are as follows:

  1. The law encourages federal employees to blow the whistle in case they discover material evidence that indicate a fraud against the United States government. The government intends to wipe out illegal activities in various federal agencies with the help of whistleblowers.
  2. Federal employees can enjoy additional protection after reporting a fraud. It is natural to understand that an employee can suffer retaliations for reporting such activities. It is precisely against such reprisals that the WPA protects an employee. Therefore, employees can fearlessly report illegal activities.
  3. The whistleblower should try to collect as many documents and other material evidence as possible. This evidence can ultimately prove the claim made by a whistleblower.
  4. All the information that indicates a violation of a federal act/regulation or misuse of the funds allotted for various federal programs is contained in a disclosure. This disclosure is protected by the Federal Whistleblower Protection Act.
  5. The WPA also provides sufficient protection to disclosures containing information that indicate illegal management practices followed by executives in an organization or agency.
  6. Any information concerning actions that can cause large-scale damage to the well-being and security of ordinary citizens in the United States is also protected under the Federal Whistleblower Protection Act.

Safety against retaliation

It is because of various provisions under the WPA that bureaucrats in an agency or department cannot retaliate against a whistleblower. Workers who provide information in a disclosure protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act need not fear from any threat or action on part of a bureaucrat. Some of the actions banned by the WPA include

  1. Demotion of a worker.
  2. Transferring an employee to a different location or department.
  3. Reassigning duties to an employee.
  4. Refusing appraisals of an employee.
  5. Lowering work hours of an employee after she blows the whistle.
  6. Threatening or harming the employee in any manner that's illegal.

How are complaints related to the WPA handled?

  1. A person has to produce sufficient evidence to prove that he or she has actually made a protected disclosure, thereby invoking retaliatory action from a bureaucrat.
  2. The worker has to prove that the bureaucrat who took retaliatory steps was well aware of a worker's role as a whistleblower. That's how a whistleblower can prove an action to be 'retaliation' to the act of blowing a 'whistle.'
  3. The worker has to demonstrate the correlation between the retaliation and disclosure as well. In most cases, a whistleblower can easily manage to strike an association between the two.
  4. Once an employee successfully establishes the fact that a bureaucrat has violated the Whistleblower Protection Act, the latter has to provide sufficient evidence to prove the opposite. In fact, the law itself states it as 'clear and convincing' for an agency officer or bureaucrat. He has to prove that the action was not taken in reaction to the act of blowing a whistle.

What actions are taken to safeguard interests of a whistleblower?

If an employee thinks that a bureaucrat has violated his rights, a complaint can be filed with the MSPB or the Merit Systems Protection Board. A cease or desist order is granted by MSPB. The maximum time taken to grant the order is ten days. After listening to the testimony of both the employee and agency official or bureaucrat, the MSPB can restore an employee to the old position along with compensations if his or her complaint is proved right. An employee should also contact an employment attorney in this case.