A federal agency charged with protecting whistleblowers in the workplace has been remarkably dismissive of retaliation complaints, according to an analysis of government data.
NBC Bay Area News reported Monday that over the last decade the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) found merit in fewer than two percent of retribution charges.
The agency dismissed 59 percent of cases, and facilitated a settlement in another 22 percent of complaints, the records showed. The allegations surrounded illegal workplace practices and safety procedures.
The NBC affiliate also found that the agency routinely fails to complete whistleblower retaliation investigations within the 90-day time frame mandated by federal regulations. The data revealed that seven in ten investigations lasted beyond the three-month limit, and the average length of a probe increased from 98 days in 2004 to 378 days in 2014.
“These are people who charge that their rights have been violated and 97 to 99 percent of the time the government rules, officially rules, that they had it coming,” Tom Devine, the legal director of the Government Accountability Project told the local NBC affiliate. He called the reported dismissal rate “obscene.”
OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program has long been criticized as ineffective. A 1988 Government Accountability Office report also blasted the agency for not completing retaliation investigations within the “statutory timeframes.”
