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With only one more month left to go until the presidential election, the Office of Special Counsel wants to remind federal employees of a few Hatch Act guidelines meant to keep political activity out of the workplace.
The Office of Special Counsel is taking a step forward with a new, five-year strategic plan for the future. As more federal employees turn their cases to OSC than ever before, the agency said it's adjusting its priorities to better meet the demands of an increasing workload and persistent budget uncertainty.
At first glance, this year's results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey might not show many significant improvements. But several large and small agencies, including the Housing and Urban Development Department and the Office of Special Counsel, made noticeable improvements in employee engagement this year.
The Veterans Affairs Department paid roughly $5 million to some employees to settle disciplinary actions, according to House VA Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). VA made 208 settlement agreements with employees between July 2014 and the present. The department used monetary payouts to settle 72 percent of those cases.
The Office of Special Counsel offered a new approach for analyzing whistleblower retaliation cases, as the agency released its third amicus brief opposing higher burdens on whistleblowers. This particular case involved an employee at the Veterans Affairs Department.
In the first event of its kind, the oversight community touted the importance of whistleblowers and their contributions in combating waste, fraud and abuse at a National Whistleblower Appreciation Day event on Capitol Hill.
More federal employees turned to the Office of Special Counsel with prohibited personnel practice or whistleblower complaints in 2015, and the agency resolved more cases than any other year in its history.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee continued their investigation of the Transportation Security Administration, this time hearing from Administrator Peter Neffenger and Department of Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth.
For the second time this year, the Office of Special Counsel said the Veterans Affairs Inspector General isn't properly addressing three cases of whistleblower allegations. OSC Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner voiced similar concerns about two other cases to President Barack Obama in February.
The Office of Special Counsel said two reports from the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General are incomplete, because the IG didn't address the issues whistleblowers raised about problems with wait times at two VA medical centers.
The Office of Special Counsel is urging individual agencies to register for OSC’s 2302 (c) Certification Program, which provides information on prohibited personnel practices and offers protection for whistleblowers.
The Office of Special Counsel says it's been a "victim of its own success" in fiscal 2015, thanks to more VA whistleblowers coming forward.
The provision tells agencies to show how program performance metrics are tied to priority goals.
Joe Carson, a 31-year federal employee and a prevailing whistleblower, explains why he believes the U.S. Office of Special Counsel withdrew its rule about contractor whistleblower disclosures.