Whistleblower Statute Filing Requirements

Author: Irene Stavrellis Englert, Englert Legal Consulting, LLC

Whistleblower protection provisions prohibit employers from discharging or retaliating against any employee who engages in certain protected activities, such as those relating to workplace safety and health, commercial motor carrier safety, the environment, corporate fraud, SEC rules or regulations, or public transportation agency safety or security.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) administers the whistleblower protection provisions of over 20 whistleblower statutes, conducts inspections, holds proceedings, and issues orders with respect to employees' complaints that their employers retaliated against them for exercising their legal rights. However, employees must meet the whistleblower protection provision's filing requirements, including strict legal time limits, in order to fall under the provision's protection.

The following chart summarizes the filing requirements of the whistleblower statutes OSHA administers, in addition to a number of other whistleblower protection provisions administered by other agencies.