Energy Department improves whistleblower protections

The Department of Energy (DOE) has rolled out two new measures aimed at cracking down on whistleblower retaliation by the contractor companies that run national laboratories.

The new actions, announced late Thursday by DOE general counsel Steven Croley in a blog post, follows a Government Accountability Office report identifying numerous shortcomings by the department on whistleblower protections.

{mosads}The first change is targeted at companies that try to get reimbursed by the DOE for the costs of defending whistleblower retaliation claims.

Under a new guidance document, officials deciding whether to reimburse those costs are instructed to consider whether the company in fact retaliated against the whistleblower, regardless of who wins in court or arbitration.

The DOE is also proposing a regulation that would allow it to penalize contractors that retaliate against employees for bringing up nuclear safety concerns.

“The department has gone to great lengths to ensure that employees can raise concerns about health, safety and management issues without fear of retaliation,” Croley said about the changes.

“Because we believe our mission is best served by a culture where employees are confident their concerns will be heard and that they will not be punished for raising them,” he wrote.

The new changes, he said, “will further institutionalize our considerable efforts to ensure that all employees can raise safety and management concerns without fear of retaliation.”