[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3137 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3137

   To provide remedies for retaliation against whistleblowers making 
                       congressional disclosures.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 17, 2002

Mr. Leahy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
        referred to the Committee on Governmental AffairsYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide remedies for retaliation against whistleblowers making 
                       congressional disclosures.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Oversight Protection 
Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. PROVIDING REMEDIES FOR RETALIATION AGAINST WHISTLEBLOWERS 
              MAKING CONGRESSIONAL DISCLOSURES.

    Section 7211 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' before ``The right''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Any employee aggrieved by the discrimination of an employer 
in violation of subsection (a) may bring an action at law or equity for 
de novo review in the appropriate district court of the United States, 
which shall have jurisdiction over an action under this subsection, 
without regard to the amount in controversy.
    ``(c) Any employee prevailing in an action under this section shall 
be entitled to all relief necessary to make the employee whole, 
including--
            ``(1) reinstatement with the same seniority status that the 
        employee would have had but for the discrimination;
            ``(2) the amount of back pay lost as a result of the 
        discrimination, with interest;
            ``(3) compensation for any special damages sustained as a 
        result of the discrimination, including litigation costs, 
        expert witness fees, and reasonable attorney fees; and
            ``(4) punitive damages, in appropriate cases.
    ``(d) Upon the request of the complainant, any action under this 
section shall be tried by the court with a jury.
    ``(e) The same legal burdens of proof in proceedings under this 
section shall apply as apply under sections 1214(b)(4)(B) and 1221(c) 
in the case of any alleged prohibited personal practice described in 
section 2302(b)(8).
    ``(f) For purposes of this section, the term `employee' means an 
individual (as defined by section 2105) and any individual or 
organization performing services under a contract with the Government 
(including as an employee of an organization).''.
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