Expanded whistleblower protection bill to cover fraud, abuse, waste

New legislation introduced on Monday by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) would strengthen protections for whistleblowers, after a report requested by the Government Accountability Office revealed instances of retaliation and intimidation within the Department of Energy (DOE).

“I’ve been at this a long time, and it has become clear that the Department of Energy is not going to change its culture of retaliation against whistleblowers, so it’s up to Congress to change it,” Wyden said. “This bill beefs up the penalties for contractors who retaliate, relieves taxpayers from picking up the tab for contractors’ legal costs, and gives whistleblowers more power to challenge violations of their rights.”

The bill would protect whistleblower disclosures relating to waste, fraud and abuse, in addition to previous protection for safety violation reports. The new legislation would also obligate contractors to cover the costs of legal and administrative services in wrongful termination cases, unless the contractors can demonstrate that the DOE was involved in the retaliation.

“Instead of protecting whistleblowers from retaliation by contractors, the Department of Energy has indiscriminately reimbursed contractors for their legal fees, even though the law limits such awards,” Markey said. “Whistleblowers should be treated as heroes, not vilified and harassed. This legislation expands the types of whistleblower disclosures that are protected under law, forces DOE to stop issuing blank checks to contractors who retaliate against whistleblowers, and imposes real penalties on those that do.”