31 U.S.C. § 5323 — Whistleblower incentives and protections

(a) Definitions. (1) “Covered judicial or administrative action” means a court or administrative action brought by the Secretary of the Treasury (called the “Secretary” here) or the Attorney General under the laws listed in this section, or for a conspiracy to violate those provisions, when the action results in more than $1,000,000 in monetary sanctions. (2) “Monetary sanctions” means money ordered to be paid, including penalties, disgorgement, and interest. It does not include forfeiture, restitution, or a payment compensating a victim. (3) “Original information” means information that comes from a whistleblower’s independent knowledge or analysis; is not already known to the Secretary or Attorney General from another source, unless the whistleblower is the original source; and is not based only on an allegation in a court or administrative hearing, a government report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or the news media, unless the whistleblower is the source. (4) “Related action” means a court or administrative action brought by an entity listed in subsection (g)(4)(D)(i)(I) through (III), based on original information provided under subsection (b) that led to successful enforcement of the covered action. (5)(A) “Whistleblower” means one individual, or two or more people acting together, who gives information about a violation of the laws covered by this section to the person’s employer, including as part of the person’s job, or to the Secretary or Attorney General. (B) Only for subsection (g)(1), “whistleblower” also includes a person who takes, alone or with others, an action described in subsection (g)(1)(A). (b) Awards. (1) In general. In a covered action or related action, the Secretary must, under regulations and after consulting the Attorney General and subject to subsection (c), pay one or more awards to whistleblowers who voluntarily gave original information to their employer, the Secretary, or the Attorney General, as applicable, and whose information led to successful enforcement. The total award must be at least 10 percent and no more than 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected in the action or related actions. (2)(A) An award under paragraph (1) must be paid from the Fund established under paragraph (3). (B) For a related action in which another whistleblower program may pay the whistleblower, the Secretary may pay less than the minimum amount in paragraph (1)(A). (3)(A) A revolving fund called the Financial Integrity Fund (the “Fund”) is established in the United States Treasury. (B) Without another appropriation or fiscal-year limit, the Fund may be used only to pay whistleblower awards under this subsection. (C) The Fund may not pay personnel or administrative expenses. (4)(A) The Fund must receive or be credited with an amount equal to each monetary sanction collected by the Secretary or Attorney General in an action under the listed laws, unless the Fund’s balance is more than $300,000,000 when the sanction is collected. It must also receive all investment income under paragraph (5). (B) If those deposits are not enough to pay an award, the unsatisfied part must be deposited into or credited to the Fund from a monetary sanction collected by the Secretary or Attorney General in the covered action on which the award is based. (C) Money that must be deposited into the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund or the Crime Victims Fund is not deposited into or credited to this Fund. (5)(A) The Secretary of the Treasury may invest Fund money not needed for current needs. (B) The investments must be United States obligations or obligations guaranteed by the United States for principal and interest, with maturities the Secretary of the Treasury decides fit the Fund’s needs. (C) Interest and sale or redemption proceeds from those obligations are credited to and become part of the Fund. (c) Determination of Amount of Award; Denial of Award. (1)(A) The Secretary decides the award amount. (B) The Secretary must consider: (i) how important the whistleblower’s information was to success; (ii) how much help the whistleblower and the whistleblower’s lawyer provided; (iii) the Treasury Department’s interest in deterring violations by awarding people whose information leads to successful enforcement; and (iv) other relevant factors established by rule or regulation after consultation with the Attorney General. (2) No award may go to: (A) a whistleblower who is, or when obtaining the original information was, a member, officer, or employee of (i) an appropriate regulatory or banking agency, the Treasury or Justice Department, or a law-enforcement agency, and (ii) acting in the normal course of the person’s job; (B) a whistleblower convicted of a criminal violation related to the action; or (C) a whistleblower who does not submit information to the Secretary or Attorney General in the form required by rule. (d) Representation. (1) A whistleblower claiming an award may have a lawyer. (2)(A) A whistleblower who anonymously claims an award and anonymously submits the information must have a lawyer. (B) Before an award is paid, the whistleblower must disclose the whistleblower’s identity and provide other information the Secretary requires, directly or through the lawyer. (e) No Contract Necessary. A whistleblower does not need a contract with the Treasury Department to receive an award unless the Secretary requires one by rule or regulation. (f) Appeals. (1) The Secretary has discretion over every decision under this section, including whether to make an award, who receives it, and its amount. (2)(A) Except for the amount of an award made in accordance with subsection (b), a decision under paragraph (1) may be appealed to the appropriate United States court of appeals within 30 days after the Secretary issues it. (B) The court reviews the decision under section 706 of title 5. (g) Protection of Whistleblowers. (1) No employer may directly or indirectly discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, blacklist, harass, or otherwise discriminate against a whistleblower in employment or post-employment terms because of a lawful act by the whistleblower: (A) giving information under this section to (i) the Secretary or Attorney General, (ii) a federal regulatory or law-enforcement agency, (iii) a Member of Congress or congressional committee, or (iv) a supervisor or another employee with authority to investigate, discover, or end misconduct; (B) starting, testifying in, or helping with a Treasury or Justice Department investigation or action based on or related to that information; or (C) giving information about conduct the whistleblower reasonably believes violates a law, rule, or regulation under Treasury jurisdiction, or section 1956, 1957, or 1960 of title 18 or a related rule, to (i) a supervisor at the employer or (ii) another employee whom the whistleblower reasonably believes can (I) investigate, discover, or end the misconduct or (II) take another action to address it. (2) An individual claiming discharge or discrimination, or otherwise harmed by a violating employer, may seek relief by (A) filing a complaint with the Secretary of Labor under this subsection or (B) if the Labor Secretary has not issued a final decision within 180 days, and the delay is not shown to be the claimant’s bad faith, suing the employer at law or in equity in the proper federal district court. That court has jurisdiction regardless of the amount at issue. (3)(A)(i) Except for clause (ii) and subparagraph (C), the requirements and burdens of proof in section 42121(b) of title 49 apply to a Labor Department complaint under paragraph (2)(A). (ii) Notice required by section 42121(b)(1) must be given to every person named in the complaint, including the employer. (B)(i) A party to a district-court action has a right to a jury trial. (ii)(I) The action cannot be brought more than 6 years after the violation, or more than 3 years after the employee knew or reasonably should have known facts material to the right to sue. (II) In no event may it be brought more than 10 years after the violation. (C) Relief for a prevailing individual includes (i) reinstatement with the seniority the person would have had without the wrongful conduct; (ii) twice the back pay otherwise owed, with interest; (iii) compensatory damages, including litigation costs, expert-witness fees, and reasonable attorney fees; and (iv) any other proper remedy for the conduct. (4)(A) Except under (C) and (D), the Secretary or Attorney General and Treasury or Justice officers and employees may not disclose information that could reasonably reveal a whistleblower’s identity, including information the whistleblower gave them, except as allowed by section 552a of title 5, until disclosure is required to a defendant or respondent in a public proceeding brought by the appropriate official or an entity in (D). (B) For section 552 of title 5, this paragraph is a statute described in subsection (b)(3)(B) of that section. (C) This section does not limit the Attorney General’s ability to present evidence to a grand jury or share it with possible witnesses or defendants during an ongoing criminal investigation. (D)(i) Without losing confidentiality in the Secretary’s or Attorney General’s hands, the appropriate official may, when necessary to carry out the covered laws, make the information available to (I) an appropriate federal authority, (II) a state attorney general for a criminal investigation, (III) an appropriate state regulator, or (IV) a foreign law-enforcement authority. (ii)(I) Entities in (I) through (III) must keep the information confidential under (A). (II) A foreign authority must protect it under confidentiality assurances set by the Secretary or Attorney General. (5) This section does not reduce a whistleblower’s rights, privileges, or remedies under federal or state law or a collective-bargaining agreement. (6) This subsection does not apply to an employer covered by section 33 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or section 213 or 214 of the Federal Credit Union Act. (h) Provision of False Information. A whistleblower cannot receive an award if the whistleblower knowingly and willfully makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation, or uses a false writing or document knowing it contains such an entry or statement. (i) Rulemaking Authority. After consulting the Attorney General, the Secretary may issue rules and regulations needed or appropriate to carry out this section consistently with its purposes. (j) Nonenforceability of Certain Provisions Waiving Rights and Remedies or Requiring Arbitration. (1) An agreement, policy, or employment condition, including a predispute arbitration agreement, cannot waive the rights or remedies in this section. (2) A predispute arbitration agreement is invalid and unenforceable to the extent it requires arbitration of a dispute under this section.