Basic Whistleblower Provisions
Generally, the employee protection provisions listed above prohibit an "employer" or any "person" (the definition of which may vary from statute to statute) from discharging or otherwise discriminating against any employee with respect to the employee's compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee engaged in specified "protected" activities.
The protected activities typically include: (1) initiating a proceeding under, or for the enforcement of, any of these statutes, or causing such a proceeding to be initiated; (2) testifying in any such proceeding; (3) assisting or participating in any such proceeding or in any other action to carry out the purposes of these statutes; or (4) complaining about a violation.
The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (ERA), the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act (AIR21), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA), and the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act (PSIA) specifically cover an employee's internal complaints to his or her employer, and it is the Secretary's position, as set forth in regulations, that employees who express safety or quality assurance concerns internally to their employers are protected under the other whistleblower statutes. With the exception of the Fifth Circuit, the courts of appeals that have considered whether internal complaints are protected have agreed with the Secretary.
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