Contact: Bernadette Green, (202) 225-2476
(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) today voted in favor of the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017.
The Whistleblower Protection Act:
- Sets minimum disciplinary standards across all government agencies regarding retaliation against whistleblowers.
- Requires trainings about whistleblower protections for federal employees.
- Adds protections for probationary period whistleblowers who are retaliated against.
- Prohibits pulling VA employee medical files as an act of retaliation.
- Requires the VA to come up with a plan to restrict unauthorized employee access to medical files so files can’t be used as retaliation.
The bill is named after Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick, a psychologist at the VA Medical Center in Tomah, Wis. Kirkpatrick committed suicide after he was fired from the VA for questioning the over-medication of veterans who were being treated at the facility.
The Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 passed the House unanimously. It was sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson in the Senate, where it passed by unanimous consent.
