The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 Research Paper

The whistle blower Protection Act of 1989 - Research Paper fontA whistleblower is a person who makes a disclosure that evidence improper or illegitimate activities in an employment setting (Whitaker, P1). On the other hand, King defines the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 as a United States of Americas federal law that protects federal whistleblowers or goernment employees who paper any misconduct by a federal agency. An example of a famous whistleblower was Jeffrey Wigand, dark-brown & Williamsons former research and development vice president in 1966, who disclosed that cigarette companies executives were aware of the fact that cigarettes were addictive and increased the amount of nicotine deliberately to make them even more addictive (King, para5).The Whistleblower Protection Act/WPA was enacted in 1989, following apparent weaknesses in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, which was an introductory attempt to protect whistleblowers. This law led to the creation of the Of fice of Special Counsel, which investigates complaints from government employees that they received penalization after reporting about abuse, fraud or waste in their agencies to Congress. This office has jurisdiction over whistleblower reprisal allegations that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission employees make.The Congress passed the Act with the intention of strengthening and improving federal employees rights protection, to end retaliation and to aid in the eradication of unlawful activity within the government. It mandates that workers should not go through adverse consequences because of personnel practices that are prohibitedand establishes that the Office of Special Counsels prime role is protecting workers, particularly whistleblowers, from forbidden personnel practices.