When something is wrong, it’s wrong, right? Unfortunately, some people would argue that in whistleblower protection cases, the motives of employees who expose wrongdoing should be considered when deciding whether to cover them with the protections of the 2012 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. On the other hand, some people believe that wrongdoing is wrongdoing and those who expose it must be protected regardless of their motivations for doing so.
An amicus brief discussing this issue recently got filed by the United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) in a Whistleblower Protection Act case. The OSC took the position that a disclosure that would be protected under the Act should not lose protection because the whistleblower had an axe to grind when they disclosed it. In the case for which the amicus brief got filed, Ryan v. Dep’t of Defense, DC1221-16-0264-W-1, 2017 WL 134320 (Jan. 10, 2017), a police officer in the Pentagon Force Protection Agency disclosed that two of his co-workers were sleeping on the job. After he had made that disclosure, the Agency retaliated against him in multiple ways, including written and verbal counseling statements.
The Administrative Judge decided that the disclosure made by the officer is not a protected disclosure because the judge felt that the officer’s motive was not to show that there was wrongdoing that was going unchecked but was more akin to interpersonal squabbling. In making that decision, the Administrative Judge relied upon a case as precedent that was decided before the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA). The Act clearly states that the intention of the whistleblower is irrelevant to whether or not a disclosure should be protected. This provision makes sense when you consider that the intent of the WPEA is to encourage the reporting of government fraud, abuse, and waste.
The disciplinary actions that got taken against the officer also violate the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. The Act specifies that agency officials may not threaten an employee or take personnel actions based on disclosures that the disclosing employee reasonably believes to be evidence of some wrongdoing as wrongdoing is defined by statute. The officer reported that his co-workers were sleeping on the job because he believed that it was evidence of wrongdoing, and that belief is not unreasonable.
Barrett Law PLLC: Comprehensive Defense for Mississippi Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers like the police officer whose case is discussed above often get a raw deal after they try to correct the wrongs that they witness in their workplaces. If you have reported wrongdoing in your workplace, you are likely protected under one or more whistleblower protection laws. This means that any retaliation that you experience, any undue disciplinary actions, intimidation, reassignment, harassment, or other unfair treatment is a violation of the whistleblower protection laws and you may be able to file a claim for damages. To learn more about how you might be able to pursue a claim for damages under the whistleblower protection laws, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (800) 707-9577 for an initial consultation.