File:Gao-10-722.pdf

US Congressional Report on the protection of Whistleblowers dated August 2010.

Introduction

Workers who “blow the whistle” on prohibited or unlawful practices that they discover during their employment can play an important role in the enforcement of federal laws. However, these whistleblowers may also risk reprisals from their employers, sometimes being demoted, reassigned, or fired. Federal laws establish whistleblower protection processes, whereby workers who believe that they have faced retaliation for blowing the whistle can report their allegations to the appropriate federal agency, which then determines the merit of their claims. The Whistleblower Protection Program at the Department of Labor’s (Labor) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for receiving and investigating most whistleblower complaints filed by nonfederal workers. For over 20 years, we have reported that OSHA has focused too little attention on the whistleblower program.1 Most recently, in January 2009, we reported that OSHA has struggled to provide investigators with the skills and resources they need to do their jobs, and has not developed adequate internal controls to ensure that criteria and standards for investigating complaints are consistently followed across its regions. At that time, we recommended that OSHA take several actions, including ensuring that investigators have necessary equipment and enhancing its audit program to provide for independence and accountability.