Enhanced protections for FBI whistleblowers

(a)

Prohibited personnel actions

Section 2303 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a), by striking the flush text following paragraph (2)(B); (2) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) as subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively; (3) by inserting after subsection (a)(2)(B) the following:

(b) Any employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who has authority to take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve any personnel action, shall not, with respect to such authority— (1) take or fail to take a personnel action with respect to an employee in, or applicant for, a position in the Bureau because of— (A) the exercise of any appeal, complaint, or grievance right granted by any law, rule, or regulation— (i) with regard to remedying a violation of subsection (a); or (ii) other than with regard to remedying a violation of subsection (a); (B) testifying for or otherwise lawfully assisting any individual in the exercise of any right referred to in clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A); or (C) cooperating with or disclosing information to the Inspector General (or any other component responsible for internal investigation or review) of an agency, or the Special Counsel, in accordance with applicable provisions of law; (2) implement or enforce any nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement that is described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 2302(b)(13); or (3) coerce the political activity of any person (including the providing of any political contribution or service), or take any action against any employee or applicant for employment as a reprisal for the refusal of any person to engage in such political activity.

;

(4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— (A) by inserting (1) after (c); and (B) by adding at the end the following:

(2) With respect to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Attorney General shall be responsible for— (A) preventing prohibited personnel practices; (B) complying with and enforcing applicable civil service laws, rules, and regulations and other aspects of personnel management; (C) ensuring, in consultation with the Special Counsel and the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, that employees of the Bureau are informed of the rights and remedies available to the employees under this chapter, chapter 12 of this title, and section 3001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (50 U.S.C. 3341), including— (i) information with respect to whistleblower protections available to new employees during a probationary period; (ii) the role of the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board with respect to whistleblower protections; and (iii) the means by which, with respect to information that is otherwise required by law or Executive order to be kept classified in the interest of national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs, an employee may make a lawful disclosure of the information to— (I) the Special Counsel; (II) the Inspector General of the Department of Justice; (III) Congress (including any committee of Congress with respect to information that is not classified or, if classified, has been classified by the head of an agency that is not an element of the intelligence community and does not reveal intelligence sources and methods); or (IV) another employee of the Bureau who is designated to receive such a disclosure; and (D) ensuring that the information described in this paragraph is provided to each new employee of the Bureau not later than 180 days after the date on which the new employee is appointed; and (E) making available information regarding whistleblower protections applicable to employees of the Bureau on the public website of the Bureau and on any online portal that is made available only to employees of the Bureau, if such portal exits. (3) Any employee of the Department of Justice to whom the Attorney General delegates authority for any aspect of personnel management shall, within the limits of the scope of the delegation, be responsible for the activities described in paragraph (2).

; and

(5) by adding at the end the following:

(f) A disclosure shall not be excluded from this section because— (1) the disclosure was made to a person, including a supervisor, who participated in an activity that the employee or applicant reasonably believed to be covered by this section; (2) the disclosure revealed information that had been previously disclosed; (3) the disclosure was not made in writing; (4) the disclosure was made while the employee was off duty; (5) of the amount of time which has passed since the occurrence of the events described in the disclosure; or (6) the disclosure was made during the normal course of duties of an employee. (g) In this section, the term personnel action means any action described in clauses (i) through (xi) of section 2302(a)(2)(A) of this title with respect to an employee in, or applicant for, a position in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (other than a position of a confidential, policy-determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating character).

(b)

Clarification of FBI whistleblower retaliation appeals process

Section 2303 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, is amended— (1) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by inserting the requirements under subsection (e) of this section and before applicable; and (2) in subsection (e), as so redesignated— (A) in paragraph (1), by striking a final determination or corrective action order by the Bureau and inserting any adjudicative dismissal, determination, or associated corrective action order made; (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) by striking If no final determination or corrective action order has been made or issued for an allegation described in and inserting If no appealable decision has been made under; and (ii) by striking Federal Bureau of Investigation and inserting investigating office; and (C) by adding at the end the following:

(3) An appeal brought under paragraph (1), or corrective action sought under paragraph (2), shall be governed by the applicable legal burdens of proof described in section 1221(e).