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Whistle-Blower Resources
Unless stated, We do not endorse any of the links provided on this website.
It’s Very Important to Understand the Types of Investigations:
Fact-finding
Informal Investigations
Formal Investigations
The only investigations that matter are formal investigations
Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP)
Cannot conduct “formal” investigations (only informal). An October 2019 IG report concluded OAWP was retaliating against whistleblowers. This office is under new management. Experiences by whistleblowers is mixed, but mostly negative.
Office of Inspector General (OIG)
Can conduct “formal” investigations. Experiences are mixed. Whistleblower survey says: It’s a crapshoot. Outcome depends on many variables such as type of disclosure, who is involved, location, quality of evidence, etc.
For federal employees, Veterans, and the public
U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC)
Can conduct “formal” investigations. Experiences are mixed. Whistleblower survey says: It’s a crapshoot. Outcome depends on many variables such as type of disclosure, who is involved, location, quality of evidence, etc.
For federal employees only. Two different types of filings.
Be Prepared
Appearances are not what they seem
Here's the reality (no sugar coating):
This list aggregates some of the things that VA whistleblowers have reported. It’s not comprehensive, but it’s enough to ask yourself:
Is it worth it?
What will happen to you is highly variable. It really depends on the type of disclosure, who is involved, and many other factors. Some disclosures get processed quickly with very little retaliation, while others are met with egregious misconduct all the way from the top. As the saying goes, don’t expect justice in court, only a decision.
Depending on the year, only 1-8% of federal employees win their cases.
The information you find on the internet and other places is deceiving. While there is a lot of encouragement for employees to come forward, the reality is there is very little support and assistance unless you are willing to pay dearly for it. Some VA employees spent thousands of dollars (into the hundreds of thousands), but settlement pay outs are not like the civilian sector and are quite low.
- The person making the disclosure is investigated for malfeasance.
- Even an outstanding employee will fall out of favor such as be falsely accused of malfeasance or bad behavior.
- The whistleblower laws offer very little protection.
- Expect retaliation even thought it’s illegal.
- Negative consequences.
- Government officials will lie and try to trick you about your rights, policies and procedures, even from the offices you made disclosures to.
- Ex-parte communications between oversight (watchdog) offices with management.
- Your colleagues will not want to associate with you (mainly out of fear).
- Officials looking for upward mobility (especially the ones who cannot do it on merit) are willing to carry out illegal/unethical acts for management.
- Trust no one. The VA will play a psychological warfare game.
- Retaliation from the VA can extend into another federal agency if you left the VA to find another federal job.
- Expect to get audited by the IRS.
- Computer and social media hacking (make sure you have strict privacy controls and security on all online activity).
- The VA will conduct surveillance on your internet activity, even though it is illegal.
- The VA will exaggerate and twist any little statement or comment in their favor and to discredit you.
- VA will come up with bogus claims about you such as alleging you are stalking, harassing, threatening, or harming other federal employees (or Veterans), which is a federal offense. As a result you will end up in criminal court defending yourself against bogus charges. The VA has falsely accused employees of making bomb threats, planning to commit mass shootings, and even murder.
- The VA will mail important communications to the wrong address (very common tactic) and then play dumb.
- Media outlets and journalists won’t write about your story unless it has been vetted or fits a narrative.
- Warning: Some journalists and media outlets will promise a story, take your evidence, and then give it to the Agency so they can get more/favorable access to the Agency.
- Read up on the tactics of the Church of Scientology against those who speak out against it, the VA uses similar tactics.
- Trolls: Online trolls will contact you and pretend to be a friend or advocate. Work place trolls are employees used to gain your trust just to get information from you.
- Some coworkers are willing to lie for fear that if they do not go along with what their manager is asking of them they will be retaliated against as well.
- When the VA comes after a whistleblower alleging “behavioral issues” this type of allegation is so subjective that it is difficult to fight. There are some legal standard measuring tools to try to quantify and qualify behavioral issues but much of the evidence relies on subjective testimony. All a manager has to do is say you looked at someone wrong even if that “look” was misinterpreted.
- Attorney retainers are costly ($30k and upwards).
- Pulled into a legal battle taking years.
- Most attorneys do not like to represent federal employees.
- A time consuming paper war.
- The government will fabricate evidence, falsify records, stone-wall, and hide-evidence to cover-up the mistakes made by the person(s) named in your disclosures.
- Time is not on your side. The longer it takes to resolve the issue the worse the outcome is for you.
- The process is extremely stressful.
- Some marriages do not survive.
- Takes too much time away from friends & family.
- Loss of job, home, license, reputation, livelihood.
- There are very few people who are willing and/or able to help you.
- Metaphorically speaking, there are a lot of landmines, booby traps, trapdoors, and window-dressings.
- If you are a Veteran VA employee, expect your privacy to be violated and benefits to be weaponized against you, and that of your family members who are Veterans. It is highly advisable to keep a close eye on your records. Download or obtain your medical records through the ROI office on a frequent bases to make sure they have not given you a false mental diagnosis as a way to discredit you.
- The VA will try to have your children taken from you (Veteran) especially if you are a single parent.
- The EEOC process is a total sham and kangaroo court. It cannot or is unwilling to enforce the law. Claims are supposed to be handled within a 180 days but this process often takes years.
- MSPB currently lacks a quorum and thus there is a backlog.
- Federal employees cannot go directly to federal court without first going through EEOC and/or MSPB.
- At federal court the DOJ runs cover for the Agency. They largely don’t care what malfeasance occurred, they just want to make sure the Agency wins.
- Most Congresspersons will ignore your complaints or any help they can do is very slow.
- The White House will ignore your complaints.
- Advocacy non-profits tend to get overwhelmed with complaints and only take a small percentage of claims due to limited resources.
- Professionals: The VA will go after your license, even if you are a respected medical doctor.
- Property vandalism, such as car or home, including being run off the road in hit and runs.
- State and federal courts are influenced by the agency.
- The big VSOs will not help Veterans harmed by the VA.
- Your lawyer could be threatened or bribed to go along. There are many people and groups who have been trying to warn the public and find solutions to America’s judicial corruption problem.
- Veterans who file disclosures (non-federal employees) are not protected by the whistle-blower laws.
