Congressman Sean Duffy's Whistleblower Protection Bill Now Law

Press Release

Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI), Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing & Insurance, today released a statement on the bipartisan Follow the Rules Act becoming law:

"Whistleblowers play an important role in rooting out the bad actors who stand in the way of good government. But a glaring gap in whistleblower protections threaten whistleblowers' ability to stand up for what is right. The Whistleblower Protection Act provides Federal workers with certain legal safeguards to disclose if they are being asked to break a law, but the same protections do not apply to those who are ordered to violate rules and regulations. The Follow the Rules Act fixes the law to fill this wide gap."

Background:

This bill comes on the heels of a landmark Federal court decision that found that the Whistleblower Protection Act safeguards Federal workers against employment retaliation for refusing orders to violate Federal law, but those same safeguards do not apply to employees who refuse to violate rules and regulations, despite the fact that rules and regulations are supposed to be derived of law. The Follow the Rules Act addresses this glaring inconsistency.

An example of the kind of rules and regulations Federal employees should follow: Consider sanctions against North Korea, which Congress directed the President to promulgate in the form of Federal rules and regulations. Previously, Federal employees who are told by their supervisor(s) to violate North Korean sanctions have no whistleblower protections. The Follow the Rules Act fixes this.

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