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Congress approves federal whistleblower protections
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Washington Post
Posted: December 11th, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/congress-approves-federa...
Congress has finally approved legislation to strengthen protections for federal whistleblowers. The legislation is designed to protect employees who expose government wrongdoing against retaliation by supervisors. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which will enforce the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), praised the Senates action. In a statement, OSC said the legislation will: *Overturn court decisions that narrowed protections for government whistleblowers. *Give whistleblower protections to employees who are not currently covered, including Transportation Security Administration officers. *Restore the Office of Special Counsels ability to seek disciplinary actions against supervisors who retaliate. *Hold agencies accountable for retaliatory investigations. Whistleblower advocates hailed congressional approval of the legislation. The WPEA closes many loopholes and upgrades protections for federal workers who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, abuse and illegality, said Angela Canterbury, director of public policy for the Project On Government Oversight. With the Senates action, free speech rights for government employees never have been stronger, said Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project. But Devine added that the legislation is not all that advocates wanted. It would be dishonest to say our work is done, however, or to deny that government whistleblower rights are still second class compared to those in the private sector, he said.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government corruption, click here.
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