§6242 Whistleblower Protection Program

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must set up a program to protect Department of Energy workers and contractor workers who work on defense activities from being fired, demoted, or punished for making protected reports. A covered person is a DOE employee or a contractor employee doing defense work. A protected report is one made after following security steps the Department gives, made to certain officials or agencies, and about classified or other information the person reasonably believes shows either a law or regulation was broken, serious mismanagement or waste or abuse of authority, or a false statement to Congress. Reports may be made to the congressional committee that oversees the matter (or its cleared staff), the DOE Inspector General, the FBI, or other government parts the Secretary allows. The Secretary, through the Inspector General, must help people who want to report by saying who to tell, how to protect the information, keeping the reporter’s identity safe, and coordinating with other agencies. The Secretary must make rules to keep disclosed information secure and must tell covered people about their rights and to get help before reporting. If someone thinks they were punished for reporting, they can complain to the Office of Hearings and Appeals. That office will toss out frivolous claims and investigate others, then report results to the complainant, any contractor involved, and the Secretary. If retaliation is found, the Secretary must fix it for DOE employees or order the contractor to fix it for contractor employees, and may go to court if a contractor does not comply. These protections are separate from the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989. Within 30 days after each fiscal year begins, the Director must send the Armed Services Committees a report on the prior year’s investigations and must not identify complainants without their consent.