The system for anti-retaliation protections for federal employees who blow the whistle or speak out about their agency’s conduct is infamously weak, with whistleblowers usually forced to pursue relief through the delay-plagued and presidentially appointed Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)
However, according to a new article by leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, a number of under-utilized legal precedents offer critical avenues to protect federal employees from retaliation and ensure they receive the proper relief when it occurs.
Kohn, a founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto (KKC) and Chairman of the Board of National Whistleblower Center (NWC), details how legal precedents established in federal whistleblower cases argued by KKC provide opportunities for federal employees to have cases heard in federal court or otherwise bolster retaliation complaints.
“By utilizing these methods, federal employees can feel more confident and in control, knowing they have better chances of gaining meaningful relief if they face retaliation for whistleblowing, oppose discrimination, prevent the violation of their privacy, and enforce their rights to engage in outside First Amendment protected speech,” Kohn writes.
Kohn details how federal employees can seek a federal court injunction preventing future retaliation based on their First Amendment rights, can combine a whistleblower retaliation complaint with a discrimination complaint and pursue their “mixed case” in federal court, and use the Privacy Act to fight back against retaliation involving personal information.
To aid whistleblowers, including federal employees, the attorney-directors of National Whistleblower Center established the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund which operates a whistleblower legal assistance program for whistleblowers, attempting to locate private sector attorneys to provide representation to whistleblowers. This program has connected hundreds of whistleblowers with attorneys.
NWC is also currently urging Congress to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees, including by reintroducing and passing the Congressional Whistleblower Protection Act, which allows federal employee whistleblowers to pursue retaliation cases in federal court, a key right advocates have been fighting for for decades.
NWC has set up an Action Alert allowing whistleblower supporters to write to their members of Congress calling for the passage of the Congressional Whistleblower Protection Act.
Join NWC in Taking Action:
Protect Federal Whistleblowers
The National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund
Further Reading:
Legal Precedents Offer Novel Ways for Federal Employee Whistleblowers to Fight Retaliation