The Whistleblower Protection Act: An Overview
Abstract
This report discusses the federal statutory protections contained within the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) for federal employees who engage in whistleblowing, that is, making a disclosure evidencing illegal or improper government activities. The protections of the WPA apply to most federal executive branch employees and become applicable where a personnel action is taken because of a protected disclosure made by a covered employee. Generally, whistleblower protections may be raised within four forums or proceedings: (1) employee appeals to the Merit Systems Protection Board of an agency's adverse action against an employee, known as Chapter 77 appeals; (2) actions instituted by the Office of Special Counsel; (3) individually maintained rights of action before the Merit Systems Protection Board (known as an individual right of action, or IRA); and (4) grievances brought by the employee under negotiated grievance procedures. On March 9, 2007, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reported H.R. 985 (110th Cong.) H.Rept. 110-42, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007, which would amend the WPA by providing protections for certain national security, government contractor, and science-based agency whistleblowers, and by enhancing the existing whistleblower protections for all federal employees.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 12, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA464741
Entities
People
- L. P. Whitaker
Organizations
- Library of Congress