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The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes, the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law, rule, or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; abuse of authority; and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition, OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally, OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 120 staff, and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an association of Inspectors General charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.

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https://osc.gov/

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. Our basic authorities come from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

OSC's primary mission is to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing. For a description of prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), click here

https://osc.gov/Pages/videos.aspx

https://osc.gov/Pages/PPP.aspx

Whistleblower Retaliation

An agency official shall not retaliate against an employee for whistleblowing. 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8)

This PPP prohibits agency officials from taking, failing to take, or threatening to take a personnel action because of an employee’s whistleblowing. To prove whistleblower retaliation, one must show:

The employee must have disclosed what he or she reasonably believes to be:

a violation of 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.

The personnel action in question must have been taken (or not taken, such in the case of a promotion), threatened, or influenced by an official who knew of the employee’s disclosure; and

The employee’s disclosure was a contributing factor in the personnel action.

** This section also prohibits retaliation against government scientists who challenge censorship or make disclosures concerning the integrity of the scientific process if the censorship will cause one of the five types of misconduct described above.

Example: An employee reports to her agency’s internal affairs office that her supervisor illegally brought a gun into the workplace. The internal affairs investigator discloses the identity of the employee to the supervisory chain. Shortly thereafter, the employee is subjected to a retaliatory investigation resulting in her termination from employment based on extremely weak and unsupported charges of misconduct.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_protection_in_the_United_States

Whistleblower protection laws and regulations guarantee freedom of speech for workers and contractors in certain situations. Laws, like the Ethics in Government Act, cannot be enforced if the free speech of individuals that report workplace corruption or crime is not protected. The difficulty with the free speech rights of whistleblowers, particularly those in national defense, is that work-related reports associated with classified information can have a negative impact on national security and the public debt. The Supreme Court has limited the constitutional protections guaranteed to Americans under the aegis of the First Amendment in the areas of national defense and government employment.

Civilian employees and military personnel in the intelligence gathering and assessment field are required to sign non-disclosure agreements, a practice upheld by the Supreme Court in Snepp v. United States. The High Court ruled that secrecy agreements circumscribing an individual's disclosure of classified information did not violate their First Amendment rights. Non-disclosure agreements signed by employees create similar conflicts in private business.

An understanding of basic statutory laws, the common law as well as public and private sector personnel regulations is needed to understand how to perform a whistleblower disclosure.

Whistleblower Protection Act

The Whistleblower Protection Act was enacted to protect government employees from management retaliation, but the Supreme Court has ruled this protection only applies to government workers when the disclosure is not directly related to the job. The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) uses agency lawyers in the place of "administrative law judges" to decide federal employees’ whistleblower appeals. These lawyers, dubbed "attorney examiners," deny 98% of whistleblower appeals; the Board and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals give great deference to their initial decisions, resulting in affirmance rates of 97% and 98%, respectively.[4]

This is the first protection made available to protect free speech rights for federal workers that can otherwise be fired for reporting corruption. In October 2012, Barack Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive 19,[5] which extended the same protections to employees of intelligence and national security agencies, who had been excluded from the legislation by Congress.[6]

While not necessarily protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act, private employers should be prohibited from firing workers after the worker has disclosed criminal activity to organizations like OSHA, EPA, SEC, FBI, or other similar organizations (False Claims Act).

Whistleblower Protection does not always protect federal workers. The Supreme Court ruling excludes whistleblower actions covered in the job description for federal workers. Job related issues must go through the hierarchy of the organization. When that fails, the issue must be brought to the attention of MSPB, EEOC, or OPM if it impacts employment. Unclassified issues not directly related to the job that in turn do not have a negative impact on national security or law enforcement may be suitable for public disclosure. Public disclosure would obviously cover things like sexual harassment, racism, stalking, slander, and pesticide exposure if you are not employed as an exterminator.

Crimes involving public transportation or federal employees should be disclosed to the Inspector General for Department of Transportation.

Constitutional Law

Constitutional law is the body of law generally composed of the constitution (state and federal) as well as any laws established by the executive and legislative branches of government.

Constitutions law is modified by common law through the judicial process.

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http://www.whistleblowers.gov/

The selected content is temporarily unavailable. (4-XI-15) :-))

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http://www.whistleblowers.org/

The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting employees’ lawful disclosure of waste, fraud, and abuse.

The NWC sponsors advocacy, education, and assistance projects in a variety of program areas. Our public services include an online resource center on whistleblower rights, a speakers bureau of national experts and former whistleblowers, and a national attorney referral service, which is operated by the NWC’s sister group, the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (NWLDEF).

https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50392/signup_page/report

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http://www.whistleblower.org/

The Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization. A non-partisan public-interest group, GAP litigates whistleblower cases, helps expose wrongdoing to the public, and actively promotes government and corporate accountability. Since 1977, GAP has helped over 6,000 whistleblowers.

A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with an annual operating budget of approximately $3.1 million. Gifts to GAP are tax-deductible. The vast majority of the organization's funding comes from a base of over 10,000 individual donors and foundations such as the CS Fund, the Open Society Foundations and Rockefeller Family Fund. Additional support comes from legal fees, settlement awards, and services provided.

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) was created in 1977 at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in response to several whistleblowers, such as Daniel Ellsberg, who came to IPS about White House, FBI and Pentagon scandals. Since that time, GAP has served as a lifeline to employees of conscience and has helped them release critical information that serves the public interest and the common good.

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http://www.globalwhistleblower.org/

'fitxa' de cada Estat clicant-lo al mapa del món a

http://www.whistleblowers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=744&Itemid=164

exemple España: http://whistleblowers.nonprofitsoapbox.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=594&Itemid=161

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https://www.opensource.gov/

Join the OpenSource.gov community to get access to the latest open source reporting and analysis.
Accounts are available to US federal, state, and local government employees and contractors.

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http://www.ccrjustice.org/search/site/whistleblower

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

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