Bill to Extend Whistleblower Protections to Employees of Government Grantees and Sub-Grantees

Last March, Senator McCaskill (Illinois) introduced a bill to expand whistleblower protections to employees of grantees and subgrantees and personal service contractors. Under current law, whistleblower protections apply to Government employees, contractors, grant recipients, and subcontractors, but not to employees of subgrantees. McCaskill's billl was sent to the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, who, earlier this week, approved the proposed legislation.

The Bill also makes legal fees associated with defending against whistleblower allegations unallowable under Government subcontracts. Currently, such expenditures apply only to contractors.

Thirdly, it would make permanent current whistleblower protections for Federal Government grantees, subgrantees and subcontractors. Current whistleblower protections are set to expire in 2018.

Senator McCaskill has been a consistently strong proponent of protections for whistleblowers whether they be Government employees or contractor employees.  Without statutory protections, many cases of fraud, waste, and abuse involving Government expenditures would probably go unreported.

You can read the entire text of the bill here.