§1218 — Title 5 Government Organization and Employees | U.S. Code

Summary

The Special Counsel must send Congress a yearly report about the office’s work for the previous year. The report must say how many and what kinds of prohibited personnel practice complaints were filed, how they were handled, and how much it cost; how many investigations were done; how many stays and disciplinary actions were negotiated; how many subpoenas were issued; how many investigations were reopened and what happened after reopening; how many times the office did not decide within the 240-day deadline under section 1214(b)(2)(A)(i); the recommendations and reports given to other agencies and what those agencies did; actions taken before the Merit Systems Protection Board (including corrective action petitions, disciplinary complaints, and stays); how many complaints gave a favorable result for the complainant (separating whistleblower reprisal cases from others); how many complaints were settled by agreement with agencies, listed by agency and components (again separating reprisal and other cases); how many corrective actions the Special Counsel required after finding a prohibited personnel practice; and the results for the Office of Special Counsel from any employee viewpoint survey.

Title 5, §1218

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Special Counsel shall submit to Congress, on an annual basis, a report regarding the activities of the Special Counsel, which shall include, for the year preceding the submission of the report—

(1)the number, types, and disposition of allegations of prohibited personnel practices filed with the Special Counsel and the costs of resolving such allegations;

(2)the number of investigations conducted by the Special Counsel;

(3)the number of stays and disciplinary actions negotiated with agencies by the Special Counsel;

(4)the number of subpoenas issued by the Special Counsel;

(5)the number of instances in which the Special Counsel reopened an investigation after the Special Counsel had made an initial determination with respect to the investigation;

(6)the actions that resulted from reopening investigations, as described in paragraph (5);

(7)the number of instances in which the Special Counsel did not make a determination before the end of the 240-day period described in section 1214(b)(2)(A)(i) regarding whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that a prohibited personnel practice had occurred, existed, or was to be taken;

(8)a description of the recommendations and reports made by the Special Counsel to other agencies under this subchapter and the actions taken by the agencies as a result of the recommendations or reports;

(9)the number of—

(A)actions initiated before the Merit Systems Protection Board, including the number of corrective action petitions and disciplinary action complaints initiated; and

(B)stays and extensions of stays obtained from the Merit Systems Protection Board;

(10)the number of prohibited personnel practice complaints that resulted in a favorable action for the complainant, other than a stay or an extension of a stay, organized by actions in—

(A)complaints dealing with reprisals against whistleblowers; and

(B)all other complaints;

(11)the number of prohibited personnel practice complaints that were resolved by an agreement between an agency and an individual, organized by agency and agency components in—

(A)complaints dealing with reprisals against whistleblowers; and

(B)all other complaints;

(12)the number of corrective actions that the Special Counsel required an agency to take after a finding by the Special Counsel of a prohibited personnel practice, as defined in section 2302(a)(1); and

(13)the results for the Office of Special Counsel of any employee viewpoint survey conducted by the Office of Personnel Management or any other agency.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2017—Pub. L. 115–91 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The Special Counsel shall submit an annual report to the Congress on the activities of the Special Counsel, including the number, types, and disposition of allegations of prohibited personnel practices filed with it, investigations conducted by it, cases in which it did not make a determination whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a prohibited personnel practice has occurred, exists, or is to be taken within the 240-day period specified in section 1214(b)(2)(A)(i), and actions initiated by it before the Merit Systems Protection Board, as well as a description of the recommendations and reports made by it to other agencies pursuant to this subchapter, and the actions taken by the agencies as a result of the reports or recommendations. The report required by this section shall include whatever recommendations for legislation or other action by Congress the Special Counsel may consider appropriate.” 1994—Pub. L. 103–424 inserted “cases in which it did not make a determination whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a prohibited personnel practice has occurred, exists, or is to be taken within the 240-day period specified in section 1214(b)(2)(A)(i),” after “investigations conducted by it,”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Termination of Reporting RequirementsFor termination, effective May 15, 2000, of reporting provisions in this section, see section 3003 of Pub. L. 104–66, as amended, set out as a note under section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance, and page 188 of House Document No. 103–7.

§1218 Annual Report