WASHINGTON - June 10 - On June 11, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing on the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009 (S.372).   The Enhancement Act is designed to strengthen protections for federal employee whistleblowers.  The hearing will held in Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 342.

The hearing will highlight differences in the House and Senate whistleblower protection legislation.  The House bill, H.R. 1507, provides for universal coverage for all federal employees and also grants full court access for federal workers.  The Senate bill excludes national security whistleblowers from coverage, and does not provide for court access.

Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center Stephen M. Kohn stated: "The Senate needs to pass meaningful whistleblower protection for all federal employees.  Federal regulators need protection when they do their job.  The public has paid a heavy price caused, in part, by the failure of federal regulators to properly police powerful special interests.  Only with the enactment of strong whistleblower laws will the regulators be able to do their jobs and report waste, fraud and abuse.  The House bill will protect all federal workers and provide them with meaningful due process rights.  The Senate needs to enact legislation which mirrors the House bill."

A broad coalition of over fifty public interest groups and unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, Public Citizen, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Project on Government Oversight, the National Treasury Employees Union, the Government Accountability Project and the American Civil Liberties Union have all endorsed the protections for whistleblowers contained in H.R. 1507.  A copy of the official Briefing Packet produced by this coalition is attached here.

For more information please see the National Whistleblower Center's Federal Employee Whistleblower Protection page.