Coalition to Congress: Whistleblower Rights ‘Dysfunctional in the U.S.’
Last week, a coalition of civil society organizations covering the political gamut under the auspices of the Make It Safe Coalition sent a letter to House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill highlighting challenges to whistleblower rights and protections in the United States.
“The last year has seen dramatic advances internationally, as a global consensus has emerged that whistleblowers are society’s most effective resource against corruption and abuses of power,” the groups wrote. “Unfortunately, despite four unanimous mandates for rights in the Whistleblower Protection Act, they have become dysfunctional in the United States, and the longstanding bi-partisan consensus for protection is endangered… The United States was the pioneer creating whistleblower rights in 1978. Yet, while other nations are expanding the scope and strength of whistleblower protection, our bi-partisan Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) is at severe risk of complete breakdown.”
The letter offers congressional leaders recommendations for three areas of action.
The first advocates for a restoration of a quorum to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The letter notes that without a quorum, which has not existed since January 2017, the board has been unable to issue final decisions and is host to a backlog of over 2,500 appeals cases. Moreover, absent board members, the Office of Special Counsel is unable to seek stays for temporary relief against retaliation. “The Whistleblower Protection Act is on the verge of paralysis” due to the MSPB situation, the groups assert.
The letter also encourages Congress to finish its work that began with the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Three recommendations are made: 1) providing access to jury trials to federal whistleblowers, 2) enhancing protections against retaliatory investigations, and 3) amending the WPA to provide temporary relief to whistleblowers whenever they can meet the legal standard for a prima facie case.
More broadly and in reflection of global advancements in whistleblower protection laws, the coalition urges Congress to “expand the boundaries of all its whistleblower laws for them to remain relevant.”
The “bi-partisan and trans-ideological” list of organizations that signed the letter to Congress include Acorn 8, American Civil Liberties Union, Government Accountability Project, Liberty Coalition, National Security Counselors, National Taxpayers Union, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility,
Project On Government Oversight, Public Citizen, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Whistleblowers of America.
