Whistleblower Protection Act: Protection for Federal Employees |
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The Firm's attorneys are nationally recognized for their successful representation of federal sector whistleblowers in cases brought before the Office of Special Counsel ("OSC") under the Whistleblower Protection Act. We have obtained significant settlements and secured important legal victories for federal government employees who have blown the whistle on fraud, waste, abuse and other violations of the law.
The Whistleblower Protection Act ("WPA") protects federal government employees from "prohibited personnel practices," which include firings, demotions, poor evaluations, harassment, and other adverse employment actions. Under the WPA, a federal agency and its supervisors may not take, or threaten to take, an adverse personnel action against any employee or applicant because of his or her disclosure of information about what he or she reasonably believes to be a violation of a law, rule or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; an abuse of authority; or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.
Katz, Marshall & Banks' attorneys have over two decades of experience in the challenging of prohibited personnel practices cases before the OSC. In addition, we have substantial expertise in assisting federal sector employees in making confidential disclosures to OSC and members of Congress about unlawful practices at their federal agencies. Under the WPA, a whistleblower's identity will not be revealed without their consent except in the highly unusual case of an imminent danger to public health and safety or violation of criminal law. Our attorneys are experts in assisting federal workers in making confidential disclosures while protecting them from prohibited personnel practices.
We are counsel of record on behalf of a group of current and former OSC employees and several non-profit organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, the Project on Government Oversight ("POGO"), the Government Accountability Project ("GAP"), and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, who have filed federal whistleblower complaints against Presidential Appointee Special Counsel Scott Bloch.
We have also secured outstanding results on behalf of employees of Congressional agencies and offices, who have whistleblower protections under the Congressional Accountability Act when they report certain unlawful activities on the part of their employers. KMB recently handled a high profile case on behalf of ten employees of the Architect of the Capitol, an arm of the U.S. Congress, who were retaliated against for complaining to Congress that their agency had knowingly exposed them to asbestos and other workplace toxins in the utility tunnels they maintained beneath the U.S. Capitol. With the help of KMB and GAP, these workers obtained a significant out-of-court settlement in June 2007.
If you are a federal employee with concerns about government fraud, waste, abuse or other violations of the law that you are thinking about reporting, or if you already have and are facing retaliation, contact the experienced lawyers at Katz, Marshall & Banks for an evaluation of your case with no further obligation. You can also look at our useful links page for a list of organizations that also provide information on whistleblower provisions for federal government employees.
