WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined Sens. Tammy
Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) to
reintroduce bipartisan legislation to ensure federal law provides U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) civil
servants with the same due process rights available to corporate employees who
experience retaliation for blowing the whistle on nuclear safety violations.
The bipartisan
Department
of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Whistleblower Protection Act would ensure DOE and NRC employees have a fair opportunity
to enforce whistleblower protection rights under Section 211 of the
Energy Reorganization Act (ERA) –
precisely as Congress intended more than 15 years ago when it passed the
Energy
Policy Act of 2005 and added DOE and NRC as covered employers under Section
211 of the ERA.
“Whistleblowers are on the front lines in the
battle against fraud and mismanagement in government,” Grassley, Founding Chairman of the Senate
Whistleblower Protection Caucus, said. “Their work shines a light on problems that might otherwise go unnoticed,
and they ought to be celebrated and protected, not demonized and punished. That
was Congress’ view in 2005 when we passed the Energy Policy Act and that’s our
view today. This bill reiterates our intent and clarifies the law to make
it clear that whistleblowers who call attention to nuclear safety violations
are protected from retaliation.”
“Every individual should be protected when
blowing the whistle on a nuclear safety violation, which is why Congress was
right to act more than 15 years ago to ensure civil servants at the Department
of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission received the same whistleblower
protections and due process rights as nuclear energy industry employees,” Duckworth said. “The legal loophole that now denies DOE and NRC employees full
whistleblower protections when engaging in protected activity ultimately
weakens oversight, accountability and public confidence in the industry, and I
am grateful to be working with a strong bipartisan coalition that shares my
commitment to swiftly fixing this problem.”
“Being a whistleblower has never
been an easy road to travel, and because of a legal loophole that denies full
whistleblower protections for DOE and NRC employees, it’s even harder for these
civil servants to shed light on waste and abuse,” Wyden, Founding Vice-Chairman of the Senate Whistleblower Protection
Caucus, said. “All
whistleblowers — industry and government employees — deserve the strongest
protections against retaliation when they come forward with nuclear safety
violations, and our bipartisan bill will ensure this happens.”
“Federal employees at the Department of
Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are owed the same whistleblower
protections as any federal employee,” Lankford said. “Federal agencies must maintain standards and do their job in
accordance with the law, and one of the best ways to ensure that happens is
empowering federal employees to bring concerns of wrongdoing to Congress or
their Inspector General. This important legislation corrects an issue in how we
protect people from retaliation who are making sure we do the right thing, the
right way.”
“This legislation overcomes
linguistic technicalities relied on by courts to block a nuclear safety law for
16 years,” Tom Devine, Legal Director of the Government Accountability
Project, said. “In 2005, Congress enacted the right for Nuclear Regulatory Commission and
Department of Energy whistleblowers to seek justice against retaliation through
jury trials in federal court. Despite this clear intent, various decisions have
held that the law did not grammatically overcome a legal doctrine known as
sovereign immunity which permits suits against the government. As a result, NRC
and DOE nuclear whistleblowers have been blocked from receiving their day in
court. Senators Grassley, Duckworth, Wyden and Lankford seek to end the
sophism. For years they have been congressional leaders for whistleblower
protection. All whistleblowers and supporters of safe energy owe them thanks.”
Following
enactment of the Energy Policy Act of
2005, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health
Administration promulgated regulations and provided materials to be displayed
in DOE and NRC offices, which included guidance on how DOE and NRC employees
could file a complaint if retaliated against for engaging in protected activity
under Section 211. However, DOL Law Judges and the United States Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit subsequently determined that such complaints
from DOL or NRC personnel would be summarily dismissed, because Congress did
not provide the clear and unequivocal waiver of sovereign immunity under
Section 629 of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 that the Supreme Court of the United States requires to enable
whistleblower protection claims to be enforced against the United States
Government.
The
bipartisan Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Whistleblower Protection Act simply clarifies current law to provide the
clear and unequivocal waiver of sovereign immunity that will enable Section 211
ERA whistleblower protection rights to be enforced against all covered
employers – just as Congress intended when it amended the law more than 15
years ago. Passing this bipartisan whistleblower protection bill swiftly will
ensure all DOE and NRC employee complaints under Section 211 are adjudicated on
the merits.
The
bill is endorsed by the following members of the Make It Safe Coalition:
Government Accountability Project, National Taxpayers Union, National
Whistleblower Center, Project on Government Oversight, Public Citizen, Taxpayer
Protection Alliance, Acorn 8, Transparency International – U.S. Office and Whistleblowers
of America.
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