I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2572 

To strengthen the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and 

Retaliation Act of 2002, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself and Mr. MORAN of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To strengthen the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Disclo5 sures Protections Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE REMEDY FOR RETALIATION AGAINST 

2 WHISTLEBLOWERS MAKING DISCLOSURES TO 

3 CONGRESS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 72 of 

5 title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 7212. Alternative remedy 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘compensatory damages’ means 

10 damages awarded to a complaining party for each 

11 ‘action’, which shall be synonymous with ‘cause of 

12 action’ or ‘claim’, as prescribed by title VII of the 

13 Civil Rights Act of 1991; 

14 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered disclosure’ means a dis15 closure of information— 

16 ‘‘(A) made by an employee to either House 

17 of Congress or to a committee or Member or 

18 staff thereof; and 

19 ‘‘(B) which the employee reasonably be20 lieves evidences— 

21 ‘‘(i) a violation of any law (including 

22 title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), 

23 rule, or regulation; or 

24 ‘‘(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross 

25 waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or 


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1 a substantial and specific danger to public 

2 health or safety; 

3 ‘‘(3) the term ‘employee’ means an individual as 

4 defined by section 2105 and any other individual, in5 cluding permanent, temporary, full or part time em6 ployees or applicants, independent contractors, med7 ical or other staff, professionals with institutional 

8 privileges, individuals paid by temporary services, or 

9 individuals performing services for an organization 

10 that in whole or in part is a contractor, grantee or 

11 other recipient if the United States government pro12 vides any portions of the money or property which 

13 is requested or demanded; and 

14 ‘‘(4) the term ‘interfered with or denied’ in15 cludes any personnel action in section 

16 2302(a)(2)(A); implementation or enforcement of 

17 any nondisclosure policy, form or agreement in viola18 tion of this section; and investigation or prosecution 

19 of any alleged violation of title 18 provisions other 

20 than those prohibiting crimes of violence, moral tur21 pitude or espionage. 

22 ‘‘(b) ALTERNATIVE REMEDY.—An employee ag23 grieved by a violation of section 7211 with respect to a 

24 covered disclosure may within a year of the alleged violaVerDate Nov 24 2008 19:16 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2572.IH H2572

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1 tion bring an action at law and equity in the appropriate 

2 district court of the United States— 

3 ‘‘(1) which shall have jurisdiction over such an 

4 action without regard to the amount in controversy 

5 and which action shall, at the request of any party 

6 to such action, be tried by the court with a jury; and 

7 ‘‘(2) in any proceeding under this subsection, a 

8 court— 

9 ‘‘(A) shall apply the standards set forth in 

10 section 1221(e); and 

11 ‘‘(B) shall award triple lost wages, bene12 fits, reinstatement, costs including reasonable 

13 expert witness fees, triple attorney fees, triple 

14 compensatory damages including emotional dis15 tress and lost reputation, and equitable, injunc16 tive, and any other relief that the court con17 siders appropriate. 

18 ‘‘(c) CHOICE OF REMEDIES.—Except in the cir19 cumstance described in subsection (b)(1)(B), the com20 mencement of an action under this subsection bars the em21 ployee from pursuing (or further pursuing) any remedy 

22 otherwise available under section 1221 or 7701 with re23 spect to the personnel action involved.’’. 

24 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

25 for chapter 72 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 


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1 by inserting after the item relating to section 7211 the 

2 following: 

‘‘7212. Alternative remedy.’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this 

5 Act and shall apply with respect to any personnel action 

6 (as defined by section 2302(a)(2)(A) of title 5, United 

7 States Code) occurring on or after such date of enactment. 

8 SEC. 3. RIGHT OF REPRESENTATION. 

9 Section 1212(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

12 (5); 

13 (2) by striking the period at the end of para14 graph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(7) upon request, furnish such legal represen17 tation as an employee may require in a proceeding 

18 in which such employee seeks relief under section 

19 7212 of title 5.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO NO FEAR ACT. 

21 Paragraph (3) of section 203(a) of the Notification 

22 and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation 

23 Act of 2002 (5 U.S.C. 2301 note) is amended to read as 

24 follows: 


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1 ‘‘(3) the amount of money required to be reim2 bursed by such agency under section 201 in connec3 tion with each of such cases, including for salaries 

4 or pay, travel costs, and any other expenses, sepa5 rately identifying the aggregate amount of such re6 imbursements attributable to the payment of attor7 ney’s fees, if any, and separately identifying the 

8 total dollar amount by fiscal year of any reimburse9 ment for which an agency remains liable under sec10 tion 201;’’. 

Æ 


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