Whistleblower Protections Under Federal Law

Whistleblower Protections Under Federal Law

Author: Jon O. Shimabukuro

Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub

Published: 2012-10-22

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 9781480166639

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Legal protections for employees who report illegal misconduct by their employers have increased dramatically since the late 1970s when such protections were first adopted for federal employees in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Since that time, with the enactment of the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Congress has expanded such protections for federal employees. Congress has also established whistleblower protections for individuals in certain private-sector employment through the adoption of whistleblower provisions in at least 18 federal statutes. Among these statutes is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). In general, claims for relief under the 18 federal statutes follow a similar pattern. Complaints are typically filed with the Secretary of Labor, and an investigation is conducted. Following the investigation, an order is issued by the Secretary, and a party aggrieved by the order is generally permitted to appeal the Secretary's order to a federal court. However, because 18 different statutes are involved in prescribing whistleblower protections, some notable differences exist. For example, under the Department of Defense Authorization Act of 1987, individuals employed by defense contractors who engage in whistleblowing activities file complaints with the Inspector General rather than the Secretary of Labor. Under some of the statutes, including the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Dodd-Frank Act, the Secretary's preliminary order will become a final order if no objections are filed within a prescribed time period. This report provides an overview of key aspects of the 18 selected federal statutes applicable to individuals in certain private-sector industries. It focuses on the protections provided to employees who believe they have been subject to retaliation, rather than on how or where alleged misconduct should be disclosed. In addition, the report also includes an overview of the Whistleblower Protection Act. While state law may also provide whistleblower protections for employees, this report focuses only on the aforementioned federal statutory provisions.


H.R. 3187, Aviation Safety Protection Act

H.R. 3187, Aviation Safety Protection Act

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Aviation

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13:

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Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.


Whistleblower Protection Program

Whistleblower Protection Program

Author: George Scott

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009-11

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 1437914039

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Workers who "blow the whistle" on prohibited practices play a role in enforcing federal laws, but these workers risk reprisals from their employers. The Whistleblower Protection Program at the Occupational Safety and Health Admin. (OSHA) is responsible for investigating whistleblowers' complaints. OSHA's decisions generally may be appealed to the Office of Administrative Law Judges and, ultimately, the Administrative Review Board. This report examined: (1) what is known about processing times for complaints and what affects these times; (2) what outcomes resulted; and (3) what challenges OSHA faces in administering the program. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.


Whistleblower Law

Whistleblower Law

Author: Stephen Kohn

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2004-09-30

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0313052077

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In the wake of the Enron implosion and the subsequent revelations of numerous cases of corporate misconduct, sweeping legislation was enacted to reform the system of corporate financial oversight and to ensure protection for employees and investors. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 20, 2002, is a landmark in policymaking, business law, and social activism. Whisteblower Law is the first book to explain and analyze the impact and implications of this legislation, especially as it pertains to the rights of whistleblowers—those who dare to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing. Written by the leading experts in the field and drawing on their extensive experience in advising law-makers, arguing cases, and training professionals, Whisteblower Law will become the standard reference for lawyers, judges, and mediators; corporate executives and managers; employees of publicly traded companies; labor leaders and human resource advocates; and potential whistleblower alike. The authors point out that the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and related reforms in law and policy will have a profound effect on the corporate and legal communities. For example, the law mandates for the first time that all publicly traded companies establish formal whistleblowing programs and that corporate attorneys must divulge information that would implicate their clients in criminal acts, effectively becoming whistleblowers themselves.


Ethical Issues in Aviation

Ethical Issues in Aviation

Author: Elizabeth Hoppe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 445

ISBN-13: 1317141512

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Applied ethics has been gaining wide attention in a variety of curriculums, and there is growing awareness of the need for ethical training in general. Well-publicized ethical problems such as the Challenger disaster, the Ford Pinto case and the collapse of corporations such as Enron have highlighted the need to rethink the role of ethics in the workplace. The concept of applied ethics originated in medicine with a groundbreaking book published in 1979. Business ethics books began to appear in the 1980s, with engineering ethics following in the 1990s. This volume now opens up a new area of applied ethics, comprehensively addressing the ethical issues confronting the civil aviation industry. Aviation is unique in two major ways: firstly it has a long history of government regulations, and secondly its primary focus is the safety of its passengers and crew. For decades commercial aviation was viewed in the same manner as public utilities, and thus it was highly regulated by the government. Since the Deregulation Act of 1978, aviation has been viewed as any other business while other experts continue to believe that the sudden switch to deregulation has caused problems, especially since many airlines were unprepared for the change. Ethical Issues in Aviation focuses on current concerns and trends, to reflect the changes that have occurred in this deregulated era. The book provides the reader with an overview of the major themes in civil aviation ethics. It begins with theoretical frameworks, followed by sections on the business side of aviation, employee responsibility, diversity in aviation, ground issues regarding airports, air traffic control and security, as well as health and the environment. The contributors to the volume include both academics doing research in the field as well as professionals who provide accounts of the ethical situations that arise in the workplace.


Whistleblower Protection Program

Whistleblower Protection Program

Author: United States Government Accountability

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-03-28

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 9781530767274

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Transportation workers who "blow the whistle" on prohibited practices can help ensure that their employers comply with federal laws. Within the Department of Labor, OSHA investigates whistleblower claims, filed by transportation employees who believe their employers have retaliated against them for reporting unlawful practices. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), required OSHA to establish protections for auto industry employees and required GAO to review OSHA's efforts and transportation-related whistleblower claims. GAO examined (1) steps OSHA has taken to include auto industry employees in its whistleblower program and the extent to which OSHA collaborated with DOT components to address potential safety violations, and (2) the number of transportation-related whistleblower claims in the last 6 years and stakeholder-identified factors that may affect those numbers. GAO compared agency documents against key practices for collaboration, and interviewed federal agency officials and stakeholders representing transportation modes covered by these statutes to identify factors that may affect the number of whistleblower claims reported by OSHA.