Strengthen Existing U.S. Whistleblower Laws

The bipartisan SEC Whistleblower Reform Act reinstitutes anti-retaliation protections for internal whistleblowers. It also further strengthens the program by addressing the long delays that have bogged down the program and making sure that nondisclosure agreements do not silence whistleblowers.

The False Claims Act is the most successful U.S. whistleblower law, but recent setbacks threaten to damage this critical legislation. NWC strongly supports proposed amendments by Senator Charles Grassley that would reverse the setbacks and protect America's first whistleblower law.

The CFTC whistleblower program is currently facing a funding crisis due to a statutory cap, leaving commodities whistleblowers in an extremely precarious position. Emergency legislation to amend the Commodity Exchange Act has been introduced and needs to be passed as soon as possible.

NWC works to strengthen the whistleblower program administered by the Securities & Exchange Commission and to defeat efforts to weaken this program, such as proposals to place caps on rewards or to create unreasonable procedural hurdles for whistleblowers.

The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) could be a powerful tool against banking fraud, but a cap on whistleblower rewards prevents it from meaningfully incentivizing high-impact banking whistleblowers.

Despite its success, there are still reforms needed for the IRS Whistleblower Program. NWC is working to clarify judicial standard of review and incentivize timely award disbursal for tax fraud whistleblowers.

Federal employee whistleblowers should have access to federal court review. Currently, federal employees cannot have their whistleblower cases heard in federal district court, but must instead rely on the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which has a severe backlog of cases.

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) whistleblowers deserve protection and fair treatment. The DOJ should immediately implement the priority recommendations of the GAO for FBI whistleblowers.

By creating this Act, Congress recognized the need for protecting whistleblowers, but over time these protections have proven to be inadequate. Today, workers must choose between losing their job or becoming sick from Covid-19.

On July 30th, 1778, our Founders unanimously passed America's first whistleblower protection law. This visionary action, taken during the height of the American Revolution, stands today as a testament to the importance of whistleblowing in our history.