On January 6th, 2025, the Office of Special Counsel released its Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2024, detailing an impressive year for the agency and highlighting their new requirement for federal agencies to inform their employees about National Whistleblower Day. The OSC is charged with safeguarding the rights of federal employees, offering secure reporting of government fraud, waste, and abuse, and protecting federal employees from retaliation.
The new requirement was instituted as part of the agency’s enhancement of Section 2303c Certification Program and answers National Whistleblower Center’s longstanding call for permanent, comprehensive federal recognition of National Whistleblower Day.
The New Special Counsel at the Office of Special Counsel, Hampton Dellinger, is a long-term advocate of whistleblower rights. On June 20th, he penned a letter to Congressional leaders calling for permanent, federal recognition of the day. He reiterated this public call in a speech at National Whistleblower Center’s July 2024 National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill.
National Whistleblower Center commends the OSC for taking action to honor National Whistleblower Day, responsive to our historic campaign. The whistleblower education and training instituted by the new requirement will honor the invaluable contributions that federal whistleblower have made to society and will protect the rights of employees throughout the federal government. Regarding the new requirement, Executive Director of National Whistleblower Center Siri Turner commented “NWC is grateful to celebrate this major milestone for whistleblowers. Hampton Dellinger has been impressive in his ability to take action for whistleblower rights without hesitation. We are eager to see how agencies conform to the requirement to recognize National Whistleblower Day in 2025. As always, NWC is available to assist.”
NWC Executive Director Siri Turner is available for comment. For more information, contact NWC at info@whistleblowers.org.
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NWC is the leading nonprofit working with whistleblowers worldwide to fight corruption and protect people and the environment. For over 30 years, NWC has won policies to protect whistleblowers from retaliation and reward them for helping deliver criminal and civil penalties against wrongdoers.
