Whistle Blower Protection Office Retracts Poor Report Card
Seeking to deflect public attention, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel posted an overdue annual report to Congress on its website this past Tuesday, Election Day, but removed the link for the report the next day, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This elusive report, obtained by PEER, paints a dismal picture of declining performance in the federal agency whose chief mission is advocacy for whistleblowers.
Report findings include:
–Settlements for whistleblowers declined 25% from the previous year and have declined by more than half since Bloch took office. In no case did OSC seek relief for a whistleblower where the agency had not already voluntarily agreed to the action;
–Of the nearly 500 disclosures by federal employees of wrongdoing in their agencies, OSC deemed only 4% (19 cases) worthy of investigation. The rest of the whistleblower disclosures were dismissed without any follow-up or further review;
–Following the forced resignation of the head of its mediation unit, no OSC cases were settled through alternative dispute resolution.
To download the report, click here.
