| Sharon Noonan Kramer , Toni Murphy and 2 others posted in USWhistleBlower . Sharon Noonan Kramer January 17 at 6:12pm OSHA Whistleblower Protection. Comments accepted til Jan 19th. Mary Ann Garrahan (osha.dwpp@dol.gov) Whistleblower Protections Programs Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Washington, D.C. 20210 Re: OSHA Guidance "Protecting Whistleblowers: Recommended Practices for Employers for Preventing and Addressing Retaliation" should not encourage that Whistleblowers must report internally before reporting externally. Dear Ms. Garrahan, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the afore-named OSHA document prior to its completion. The DOL's transparent initiative to make employee whistleblower programs more effective and protective is greatly appreciated. "Recommended Practices" is founded upon the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee's (WPAC) "Best Practices for Protecting Whistleblowers and Preventing and Addressing Retaliation". The acknowledgment of the pervasive problem of whistleblower retaliation and efforts to correct via "Recommended Practices" are commendable. Yet, contrary to "Recommended Practice" in its current form, it is insufficient protection for an employer to merely inform its employees that they will not be prohibited from "reporting or communicating with any government agency." It is concerning as potentially hazardous to stipulate that whistleblowing-employees must first report violations to their employer before reporting to any government agencies such as law enforcement, code enforcement, and the DOL. Unfortunately, employers do sometimes commit unlawful and even highly criminal acts not by error, but by intent. In some instances requiring that an employee (who wishes to help thwart the practices) must first report them to the perpetrator could be viewed as akin to directing that a Mafia member must first report to the Don that the family's acts are criminal before reporting and providing evidence of the crimes to policing agencies. Whistleblowers speak-out at personal risk. They should not be subjected by law to greater peril for trying to do the right thing. If retaliation of whistleblowers were not a pervasive problem in the U.S., there would be no need for this law to help protect them. As such, requiring whistleblowers to first report internally guts the intent of this extensive effort to protect and encourage whistleblowers for the sake of public and worker good. Federal efforts related to whistleblowers should require employers to provide the following to their employees: 1) an explicit statement that contacting federal and state enforcement agencies is fully permitted and that there is no requirement for any employee to communicate potential violations of law within the company before going to government agencies/entities that are charged with protecting public/worker health, safety and welfare; 2) contact information for reporting violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other relevant government enforcement entities and agencies related to the company's industry; and 3)iInformation on the confidential and anonymous reporting rules governing disclosures as established under the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as information of how employees may report government contracting fraud through use of the False Claims Act to the U.S. Attorney General, along with information of how to report tax fraud to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). By protecting employees' unfettered right to report concerns externally; a strong message is sent to employers that delay of action to correct a problem and/or retaliation for their employees' whistleblowing, will not be tolerated – which are the purposes of Whistleblower Protection laws. As such, OSHA should expressly ensure that whistleblowers may report violations of law internally, externally or both; with full knowledge and assurance of protection of their legal rights to blow whistles. Respectfully submitted, Mrs. Sharon Noonan Kramer Like Comment Share | | | | | | | | | | Sharon Noonan Kramer, Toni Murphy and 2 others posted in USWhistleBlower. | | |  | | | | | OSHA Whistleblower Protection. Comments accepted til Jan 19th.
Mary Ann Garrahan (osha.dwpp@dol.gov)
Whistleblower Protections Programs
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
Washington, D.C. 20210
Re: OSHA Guidance "Protecting Whistleblowers: Recommended Practices for Employers for Preventing and Addressing Retaliation" should not encourage that Whistleblowers must report internally before reporting externally.
Dear Ms. Garrahan,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the afore-named OSHA document prior to its completion. The DOL's transparent initiative to make employee whistleblower programs more effective and protective is greatly appreciated.
"Recommended Practices" is founded upon the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee's (WPAC) "Best Practices for Protecting Whistleblowers and Preventing and Addressing Retaliation". The acknowledgment of the pervasive problem of whistleblower retaliation and efforts to correct via "Recommended Practices" are commendable.
Yet, contrary to "Recommended Practice" in its current form, it is insufficient protection for an employer to merely inform its employees that they will not be prohibited from "reporting or communicating with any government agency." It is concerning as potentially hazardous to stipulate that whistleblowing-employees must first report violations to their employer before reporting to any government agencies such as law enforcement, code enforcement, and the DOL.
Unfortunately, employers do sometimes commit unlawful and even highly criminal acts not by error, but by intent. In some instances requiring that an employee (who wishes to help thwart the practices) must first report them to the perpetrator could be viewed as akin to directing that a Mafia member must first report to the Don that the family's acts are criminal before reporting and providing evidence of the crimes to policing agencies.
Whistleblowers speak-out at personal risk. They should not be subjected by law to greater peril for trying to do the right thing. If retaliation of whistleblowers were not a pervasive problem in the U.S., there would be no need for this law to help protect them. As such, requiring whistleblowers to first report internally guts the intent of this extensive effort to protect and encourage whistleblowers for the sake of public and worker good.
Federal efforts related to whistleblowers should require employers to provide the following to their employees:
1) an explicit statement that contacting federal and state enforcement agencies is fully permitted and that there is no requirement for any employee to communicate potential violations of law within the company before going to government agencies/entities that are charged with protecting public/worker health, safety and welfare;
2) contact information for reporting violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other relevant government enforcement entities and agencies related to the company's industry; and
3)iInformation on the confidential and anonymous reporting rules governing disclosures as established under the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as information of how employees may report government contracting fraud through use of the False Claims Act to the U.S. Attorney General, along with information of how to report tax fraud to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
By protecting employees' unfettered right to report concerns externally; a strong message is sent to employers that delay of action to correct a problem and/or retaliation for their employees' whistleblowing, will not be tolerated – which are the purposes of Whistleblower Protection laws.
As such, OSHA should expressly ensure that whistleblowers may report violations of law internally, externally or both; with full knowledge and assurance of protection of their legal rights to blow whistles.
Respectfully submitted,
Mrs. Sharon Noonan Kramer | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Reply to this email to comment on this post. | | | | | | | | | This message was sent to decaturisaac@yahoo.com. If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future, please unsubscribe.
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