A federal government program aimed at protecting private-sector whistleblowers does a poor job of investigating complaints, and workers who are fired or blackballed after reporting violations rarely win restoration, according to a government report.
The Labor Department's office of inspector general said the vast majority of federal investigations into whistleblower complaints missed basic steps, such as interviewing witnesses, and workers who reported violations received no guarantees that their complaints would receive appropriate investigation under the Whistleblower Protection Program.
In a little-noticed 36-page report released Thursday, the inspector general's office estimated that 80 percent of the whistleblower investigations conducted under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — which oversees the Whistleblower Protection Program it created — did not meet one or more of eight elements essential to the investigative process.
The report, signed by Elliot P. Lewis, assistant inspector general for audit in the inspector general's office, said OSHA's Whistleblower Investigations Manual had not been updated since 2003 and that investigators did not have any written guidance on how to conduct investigations under the three new whistleblower statutes assigned to OSHA since the last update.
Additionally, it said, many investigators did not have access to experts on subject matter for technical guidance on the 17 statutes they were responsible for enforcing.
OSHA is charged with enforcing the whistleblower protections of 19 laws covering about 200 million U.S. workers. The laws cover job safety, pollution control, corporate fraud and other matters. The law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who come forward with complaints.
In August, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a scathing report on the whistleblower program that said OSHA had "done little" to ensure that investigators had the necessary training and equipment to do their jobs, and that it lacked sufficient internal controls to ensure that the whistleblower program operated as intended.
The GAO said that while OSHA had enhanced its whistleblower training and had established two mandatory two-week courses in 2007 and 2008, it had not ensured attendance or taken steps to make sure investigators had the necessary equipment to do their jobs. The agency also criticized OSHA for inconsistent program operations, inadequate tracking of program expenses and insufficient performance monitoring.
The Labor Department's office of inspector general said the vast majority of federal investigations into whistleblower complaints missed basic steps, such as interviewing witnesses, and workers who reported violations received no guarantees that their complaints would receive appropriate investigation under the Whistleblower Protection Program.
In a little-noticed 36-page report released Thursday, the inspector general's office estimated that 80 percent of the whistleblower investigations conducted under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — which oversees the Whistleblower Protection Program it created — did not meet one or more of eight elements essential to the investigative process.
The report, signed by Elliot P. Lewis, assistant inspector general for audit in the inspector general's office, said OSHA's Whistleblower Investigations Manual had not been updated since 2003 and that investigators did not have any written guidance on how to conduct investigations under the three new whistleblower statutes assigned to OSHA since the last update.
Additionally, it said, many investigators did not have access to experts on subject matter for technical guidance on the 17 statutes they were responsible for enforcing.
OSHA is charged with enforcing the whistleblower protections of 19 laws covering about 200 million U.S. workers. The laws cover job safety, pollution control, corporate fraud and other matters. The law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who come forward with complaints.
In August, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a scathing report on the whistleblower program that said OSHA had "done little" to ensure that investigators had the necessary training and equipment to do their jobs, and that it lacked sufficient internal controls to ensure that the whistleblower program operated as intended.
The GAO said that while OSHA had enhanced its whistleblower training and had established two mandatory two-week courses in 2007 and 2008, it had not ensured attendance or taken steps to make sure investigators had the necessary equipment to do their jobs. The agency also criticized OSHA for inconsistent program operations, inadequate tracking of program expenses and insufficient performance monitoring.
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1 comment:
OSHA has tough regs. Nothing wrong with that. But you know how many "injured" employees leave work fridays in perfect health only to show up to work on mondays with the injuries? Anyone who's had to deal with this knows what I'm talking about. Those employees that try to get over are usually quickly dismissed.
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