Office of Special Counsel
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Before receiving their Public Servant of the Year awards, each whistleblower told stories of outrage and frustration, scattered with doses of faith and black humor.
December 03, 2014 -
The Office of Special Counsel recently found the Army had discriminated against transgender civilian employee Tamara Lusardi. Lusardi, a quality assurance specialist, faced what OSC described as "frequent" and "pervasive" harassment on a daily basis. The Army didn't admit to prohibited personnel practices, but it did agree to start diversity and sensitivity training. Larry Youngner is a partner at the law firm Tully Rinckey. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the implications of the case.
October 30, 2014 -
When a nurse manager at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Albany, New York, saw a patient being unnecessarily kept in restraints for seven hours, she couldn't remain silent. But little did Valerie Riviello know that her actions as a whistleblower would start her down on a path of retaliation from her coworkers.
June 27, 2014 -
The Office of Special Counsel is investigating more than three dozen claims of whistleblower retaliation at the scandal-rocked Veterans Affairs Department. The 37 cases OSC is investigating span VA facilities in 19 states. They include VA employees who say they've been retaliated against for disclosing a range of misconduct, including improper scheduling practices, the misuse of agency funds and inappropriately restraining patients, according to OSC.
June 05, 2014 -
Your agency's deadline for a Whistleblower Certification Program is June 1. Congress created the program in 2002 and the Obama Administration wants federal agencies to finish making it a standard part of their workforce policies. As part of our special report Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and its Employees, Shirine Moazed, chief of the Washington field office for the Office of Special Counsel, tells In Depth with Francis Rose how the certification program works and offers five steps to meet the deadline.
May 20, 2014 -
Under the Hatch Act, federal employees face a number of restrictions when it comes to their political activity on and off the job. The law was originally designed to protect feds from political coercion.
May 20, 2014 -
The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 is one tool that is helping to build federal employees' trust in their agencies. More employees are reporting waste, fraud and abuse to the Office of Special Counsel. As part of our special report Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and its Employees, Tom and Emily spoke with Carolyn Lerner on the Federal Drive. She says the new law lets her office more aggressively defend both whistleblowers and the federal government's merit system.
May 20, 2014 -
The heads of both the Office of Special Counsel and Merit Systems Protection Board tell Federal News Radio as part of our special report, "Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and Its Employees," that their increasing workloads could actually be a sign of progress, and that more employees feel protected enough to make whistleblower disclosures. However, an exclusive Federal News Radio survey reveals a wide chasm of trust remains when it comes to feds blowing the whistle at work.
May 20, 2014 -
A customer service representative at the IRS who repeatedly greeted taxpayers calling a help-line with a chant urging President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 could now be facing significant disciplinary action, according to the Office of Special Counsel. It's one of three cases of improper political activity at the agency recently uncovered by OSC. Meanwhile, three career officials at Customs and Border Protection are under fire by OSC for allegedly manipulating the hiring process to install job candidates favored by political leadership into career appointments.
April 09, 2014 -
Union and CBP officials call for reform of outdated OT pay system, saying the purpose of Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime was misinterpreted.
January 29, 2014 -
The Office of Special Counsel, the agency tasked with investigating federal-agency whistleblower claims and protecting whistleblowers, themselves, from retaliation has seen demand for its work skyrocket in the wake of recent legislative changes. Now, Carolyn Lerner, the head of the OSC, said she hopes the small agency's budget will keep pace.
December 02, 2013 -
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are not entitled to a key civil-service protection under a recent ruling by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington. Andres Grajales, deputy general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees who represented two federal employees in the case, said the ruling gives agencies a weapon against employees.
August 27, 2013 -
Bill Bransford hosts a roundtable discussion of the upcoming Federal Dispute Resolution Conference. July 12, 2013
July 12, 2013 -
The Office of Special Counsel is "deeply concerned" about the implications of a federal court ruling that stripped low-level Defense Department employees of their ability to appeal suspensions and demotions outside the agency. OSC, which filed an amicus brief earlier this month with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, is worried the ruling could have a chilling effect on whistleblowers.
March 25, 2013 -
The Office of Special Counsel found the HHS Secretary's remarks in February at a gala violated the law prohibiting federal employees from engaging in partisan actions. Kathleen Sebelius contends she didn't break the law.
September 12, 2012