Workforce Bulletin

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of 22 separate statutes.  The number of retaliation claims filed under the various statutes has risen steadily each year and the cost of investigating them has placed a tremendous strain on OSHA’s fiscal and physical resources.  Searching for a way to reduce the costly and time consuming process of an investigation and litigation, OSHA conducted pilot Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) programs in two of its regions from October 2012 to September 2013.  The pilot programs were well received by employers and whistleblowers alike ...

One of many changes wrought by passage of the Dodd-Frank Act is that employers cannot compel potential whistleblowers to report known or suspected unlawful activity to the company before reporting such information to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).  Employees are eligible for a bounty award from the SEC even if they do not first – or ever – report internally. The SEC’s position is that mandatory internal reporting could discourage at least some potential whistleblowers.  Consistent with that position, SEC Whistleblower Rule 21F–17 provides:

No person may take ...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced in a May 17, 2012 notice published in the Federal Register that it will establish a Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee (“Committee”) in an effort “to improve the fairness, efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of OSHA’s whistleblower protection activities.” Creation of the Committee follows OSHA’s March 2012 reorganization providing for direct reporting to the Department of Labor’s Office of the Assistant Secretary, and further evidences the agency’s ...