Official Summary

10/1/2009--Introduced.Non-Federal Employee Whistleblower Protection Act of 2009 - Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to repeal and replace provisions prohibiting reprisals against employees of government contractors for disclosing to a federal official info

Close

Official Summary

10/1/2009--Introduced.Non-Federal Employee Whistleblower Protection Act of 2009 - Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to repeal and replace provisions prohibiting reprisals against employees of government contractors for disclosing to a federal official information relating to a substantial violation of law related to a public contract. Prohibits an employee of any non-federal employer receiving covered funds (i.e., a contract, grant, or other payment any portion of of which is provided by the federal government) from being discriminated against as a reprisal for initiating or participating in any proceeding related to the misuse of federal funds, reasonably opposing the misuse of federal funds, or disclosing to specified federal agencies or officials information that the employee reasonably believes is evidence of:
(1) gross mismanagement of an agency contract or grant relating to covered funds;
(2) a gross waste of covered funds;
(3) a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or an abuse of authority, related to the implementation or use of covered funds; or
(4) a violation of a law, rule, or regulation related to an agency contract, subcontract, or grant relating to covered funds. Sets forth provisions regarding:
(1) time limitations for agency inspector general determinations regarding whether to conduct or continue an investigation of a reprisal complaint;
(2) the right of a complainant to pursue a civil remedy if an inspector general decides not to conduct or continue an investigation or an agency denies relief or fails to act with specified periods;
(3) a complainant's access to the inspector general's investigative file;
(4) the standard of proof for a reprisal;
(5) agency actions to deny relief or to remedy a reprisal, including by requiring a compliance program to ensure that an employer commits no further retaliation or by requiring the employee to be paid ten times the amount of lost wages and other compensatory damages where the reprisal is found to have been willful, wanton, or malicious; and
(6) non-enforceability of certain provisions waiving rights and remedies or requiring arbitration of disputes.

...Read the Rest