Published: August 2012

Whistleblower protection is the foundation of consumer protection

The Whistleblower Protection Act was last restored in 1994, and has since fallen victim to hostile judicial activism. A recent MSPB survey found that federal whistleblowers were nine times more likely to be fired in 2010 compared to 1992. This reality maximizes government secrecy based on fear, the breeding ground for corruption.

Under current law, federal employees are not eligible for whistleblower protections if they:

• are not the first person who discloses given misconduct
• make a disclosure to a co-worker;
• make a disclosure to a supervisor;
• disclose the consequences of a policy decision;
• blow the whistle while carrying out job duties

Consumer Action and other advocates urge Congress to complete the landmark, decades-long legislative effort to restore credible whistleblower rights for federal employees. We offer our support to expeditiously pass legislation providing genuine protection for those who risk their careers to protect the taxpayers.

Lead Organization

Government Accountability Project

Other Organizations

A New Way Forward | Alliance for Democracy | Alliance for Nuclear Accountability | American Association of Small Property Owners | American Association of University Professors | American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression | American Federation of Government Employees | Association of Research Libraries | Athens County Fracking Action Network | Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. | Beyond Pesticides | Bill of Rights Defense Committee | Boundary County Concerned Citizens | Californians Aware | CATA - El Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas/The Farmworkers Support Committee | Center for Biological Diversity | Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights | Center for Media and Democracy | Center for Science in the Public Interest | Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) | Citizens Environmental Coalition | Citizens for Health | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) | Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) | Community IT Innovators | Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety | Concerned Citizens of Petersburg | Conservation Northwest | Consumer Action | Cook Inlet Keeper | CorpWatch | Cumberland Countians for Peace and Justice | DC Employment Justice Center | Defending Dissent Foundation | Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO | Disaster Accountability Project | Don’t Waste Arizona | Drum Majors for Truth | Energy Justice Network | Environmental Defense Institute | EPP-LCA.org | Federally Employed Women (FEW) | Federal Ethics Center | Federation of American Scientists | Florida League of Conservation Voters | Florida League of Conservation Voters Education Fund | GE Stockholders’ Alliance | GlobalSolutions.org | Government Accountability Project | Green Delaware | Green Party of Pennsylvania | Green Plate Catering | Greenpeace | Gun Owners of America | HEAL-ONLINE.ORG | Heart of America Northwest | Information Trust | iSolon.org | JustHealth | Kentucky Resources Council, Inc | Liberty Coalition | Los Alamos Study Group | Los Jardines Institute (The Gardens Institute) | Market Air Quality Campaign | Medical Whistleblower | Move to Amend of Buncombe County | Muslim Public Affairs Council | NAB (Neighbors Against the Burner) in Minnesota | National Accountant Whistleblower Coalition | National Air Disaster Alliance | National Coalition of Organized Women (NCOW) | National Committee for an Effective Congress | National Forum on Judicial Accountability | National Freedom of Information Coalition | National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc. | National Organization for Women | National Taxpayers Union | National Treasury Employees Union | National Women’s Health Network | National Workrights Institute | NC WARN | Network for Environmental and Economic Responsibility - United Church of Christ | New Mexico Environmental Law Center | No Nukes Northwest | Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) | OAK (Organizations Associating for the Kind of Change America Really Needs) | OpenTheGovernment.org | Oregon Wildlife Federation | Parents for Nontoxic Alternatives | Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund | Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air | Pesticide Action Network North America | POPULAR (Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored) | Privacy Times | Product Policy Institute | Progressive Democrats of America | Project On Government Oversight | Public Citizen | Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) | Rachel Carson Council, Inc. | San Luis Obispo County Grandmothers for Peace | Sierra Club | Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries | Southwest Research and Information Center | STOP Foodborne Illness | T.M. Guyer & Ayers & Friends | Teamsters for a Democratic Union | Texas Injured Workers | The Brown Center for Public Policy aka Whistlewatch.org | The Multiracial Activist | The Rutherford Institute | Union of Concerned Scientists | Valley Watch, Inc. | Warisacrime.org | WESPAC Foundation | Western Lands Project | Wild South | Woody Matters | Workplace Fairness

More Information

Government Accountability Project

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Whistleblower protection is the foundation of consumer protection   (WPEA_sign-on_letter.pdf)