5 U.S.C. § 407 — Complaints by employees
submitted 4 years ago by Pub. L. 117-286 to r/title-5-GOVERNMENT-ORGANIZATION-AND-EMPLOYEES · 184 words · no verdicts yet
The Inspector General can take complaints from employees about waste, fraud, danger to public safety, or other misconduct, and investigate them. The Inspector General must keep the complaining employee's identity secret, unless there's no way to avoid revealing it. Nobody can punish an employee for making a complaint in good faith.
This section protects employees who report problems to an Inspector General*.
(a) Receipt and Investigation. The Inspector General may take and investigate complaints or information from an employee about a possible violation of law, rules, or regulations, or about mismanagement, serious waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a real and specific danger to public health and safety.
(b) Prohibition on Disclosure of Identity. After receiving a complaint, the Inspector General cannot reveal the employee's identity without their consent — unless the Inspector General decides that revealing it can't be avoided while investigating.
(c) Prohibition on Reprisal. Any employee with authority over personnel decisions cannot take, direct, recommend, or threaten any action against another employee as payback for making a complaint or sharing information with an Inspector General. This protection doesn't apply if the complaint was made, or the information shared, while knowing it was false, or while not caring whether it was true or false.
The Inspector General* may receive and investigate complaints or information from an employee of the establishment* concerning the possible existence of an activity constituting a violation of law, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety.
The Inspector General shall not, after receipt of a complaint or information from an employee, disclose the identity of the employee without the consent of the employee, unless the Inspector General determines the disclosure is unavoidable during the course of the investigation.
Any employee who has authority to take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve any personnel action, shall not, with respect to that authority, take or threaten to take any action against any employee as a reprisal for making a complaint or disclosing information to an Inspector General, unless the complaint was made or the information disclosed with the knowledge that it was false or with willful disregard for its truth or falsity.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 117–286, § 3(b), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4224.)
- 2022Enacted · Pub. L. 117-286 · 136 Stat. 4224
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 117-286 on 2022-12-27.
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