United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-03-31 monographic deposited born digital 73 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-97-51 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51 P0b002ee18038f821 f:he97051 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51 HEHS-97-51 Whistleblowers Discrimination Occupational safety Labor-management relations Administrative remedies Investigations by federal agencies Health hazards Interagency relations Restitution Nuclear powerplant safety NRC Allegation Management System Letter Report HEHS

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) and Department of Labor's implementation of legislation pertaining to the protection of nuclear power industry workers who raise health and safety issues, focusing on: (1) how federal laws and regulations protect nuclear power industry employees from discrimination for raising health and safety concerns; (2) the implementation status of recommendations made in recent NRC and Labor internal reviews and audits of the system for protecting workers; and (3) the resulting changes to the system.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) NRC has overall responsibility for ensuring that the nuclear plants it licenses are operated safely, and the Department of Labor also plays a role in the system that protects industry employees against discrimination for raising health and safety concerns; (2) the Atomic Energy Act, as amended, gives NRC responsibility for taking action against the employers it licenses when they are found to have discriminated against individual employees; (3) NRC can investigate when a harassment and intimidation allegation is filed with NRC or when it receives a copy of a discrimination complaint filed with Labor; (4) NRC's Office of Enforcement may use the results of the NRC investigation or a decision from Labor to support enforcement action; (5) in addition, the Energy Reorganization Act, as amended, authorizes the Secretary of Labor to order employers to make restitution to the victims of such discrimination; (6) restitution can include such actions as reinstatement to a former position, reimbursement of all expenses related to the complaint, and removal from personnel files of any adverse references to complaint activities; (7) concerns raised by employees about a lack of protection under the existing process led to studies begun by NRC and Labor in 1992; (8) these concerns included the inordinate amount of time it took Labor to act on some discrimination complaints and NRC's lack of involvement in cases during Labor's decision process; (9) in response to recommendations in reports from these groups, both NRC and Labor have taken actions intended to improve the system for protecting employees; (10) for example, NRC has established a senior position to centrally coordinate and oversee all phases of allegation management, and it has taken other actions to improve overall management of the system, such as establishing procedures to improve communication and feedback among employees, NRC, and licensees; (11) it has also increased its involvement in allegation cases through several actions, including investigating a greater number of allegations; (12) while NRC and Labor have been responsive to these recommendations, other recommendations, which could be implemented through administrative procedural changes and would further improve the system, still need to be addressed; (13) in addition, NRC and Labor have yet to complete action on recommendations requiring statutory and regul* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51.pdf GAO/HEHS-97-51 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-51 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-97-51; Nuclear Employee Safety Concerns: Allegation System Offers Better Protection, but Important Issues Remain; Whistleblowers Discrimination Occupational safety Labor-management relations Administrative remedies Investigations by federal agencies Health hazards Interagency relations Restitution Nuclear powerplant safety NRC Allegation Management System Title 28 Section 2462 28 U.S.C. 2462 Public Law 104-134