Tuesday, November 5, 2013
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Monday night unanimously passed legislation to extend whistleblower protection for employees who provide information to the Department of Justice related to criminal antitrust violations. U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and coauthors of the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act, applauded the Senate's quick action on the bipartisan measure.
Approval of the bill comes just days after the Judiciary Committee unanimously reported it to the full Senate. Leahy and Grassley joined together last year to introduce the bill, and reintroduced the measure in January.
"I applaud the Senate for quickly passing bipartisan legislation that will improve the enforcement of the antitrust laws to protect consumers," Leahy said in a statement. "The Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act makes whole employees who have been fired or discriminated against for blowing the whistle on criminal conduct. I urge the House to act quickly to pass this important bill."
"Current law encourages self-reporting of criminal antitrust activity, yet it doesn't provide any protections for innocent third-parties who blow the whistle on such activity. Our bill strengthens the enforcement of criminal antitrust laws by adding a civil remedy for antitrust whistleblowers who are retaliated against," Grassley said. "I appreciate the Senate's quick action on this bipartisan bill."
The bill is based on recommendations from a Government Accountability Office report released July 2011. It allows employees who believe they are victims of retaliation to file complaints with the Secretary of Labor, and provides for those employees to be reinstated to their former status if the Secretary finds in their favor. Leahy and Grassley authored similar whistleblower statutes as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. A copy of the measure approved by the Senate on Monday can be found online.
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