Washington Post: Patent Office Filters Out Worst Telework Abuses in Report to its Watchdog
Two years ago, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office launched an internal investigation – sparked by whistleblower allegations – that many of the agency’s employees who work from home fulltime were not actually performing the work they claimed to be. One-half of the agency’s patent examiners actually work fulltime from home, and according to the report, some of them “repeatedly lied about the hours they were putting in, and many were receiving bonuses for work they didn’t do.” Worse yet, the most damning findings of this systemic telework problem were not conveyed to the investigating agency in charge of oversight – the Inspector General of the Commerce Department. The original internal report prepared by the agency was chopped significantly, omitting some of the major problems.
Key Quote: And when supervisors had evidence of fraud and asked to have the employee’s computer records pulled, they were rebuffed by top agency officials, ensuring that few cheaters were disciplined, investigators found.
Oversight of the telework program — and of examiners based at the Alexandria headquarters — was “completely ineffective,” investigators concluded.
But when it came time last summer for the patent office to turn over the findings to its outside watchdog, the most damaging revelations had disappeared. The report sent to Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser concluded that it was impossible to know if the whistleblowers’ allegations of systemic abuses were true.
“What we hoped to see was an unfiltered response,” Zinser said.”That’s not what this was. It’s a lot less sensational. The true extent of the problem was not being conveyed to us.”
The original findings, by contrast, raise “fundamental issues” with the business model of the patent office, which oversees an essential function of U.S. commerce, said Zinser, who was provided a copy of the original by a patent official.
HuffPost Live: ‘Letters From Loretto’ Detail Whistleblower’s ‘Excruciating’ Experience
GAP client and CIA/torture whistleblower John Kiriakou was the focus of a recent HuffPost Live segment featuringFireDogLake journalist Kevin Gosztola. He discussed how Kiriakou has been forced to serve the entirety of his sentence in a low security facility instead of a minimum security camp. He points to the recent revelation that the Bureau of Prisons wrongly categorized the whistleblower as committing an espionage-related crime.
Oxford Hills Sun Journal (Maine): Whistleblower Says Mental Health Service Broke State, Federal Law
An employee has filed a lawsuit under the Maine Whistleblower Protection Act against her former employer, Oxford Country Mental Health Services, which allegedly fired her last year for reporting mismanagement in maintaining proper client care.
Forbes: Enhanced Protection Against Retaliation Necessary For Whistleblowers
This opinion piece details how new retaliatory tactics by corporations – restrictive agreements, counterclaims and gag orders – are used to scare employees into remaining quiet. These actions are being utilized to combat the increased success of the SEC Whistleblower Program.
To better protect SEC whistleblowers, GAP, Labaton Sucaraow and a coalition recently petitioned SEC Chair Mary Jo White, urging that the agency clarify and strengthen its Whistleblower Program by outlawing efforts to silence whistleblowers.
Michael Riley is a Communications Intern for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.