Financial, Health and Other Costs of Whistleblowing Cited, Even When Settling

In a report whose findings could apply as well at other agencies, the GAO has said that even those whistleblowing VA employees who ultimately settled their retaliation complaints report difficulties such as “the cost of or inability to secure legal representation, health issues experienced, forced relocation, and retaliation during the settlement process.”

“One whistleblower we interviewed told us that they felt beaten down and helpless throughout the process and now ‘just want to be left alone to rot in the corner,’” GAO said after surveying 21 such employees as part of a wider report on the outcomes of whistleblower cases.

It said that while the Office of Special Counsel and the VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection “have contradictory data about settled cases” the VA’s data shows 71 settlements over 2019-2023 in retaliation complaints. Those agreements called for actions such as reassigning the whistleblower and making cash payments, in one case of more than $500,000.

GAO found that 16 of the 21 had received some training about the settlement process, but 12 of them said it was difficult to understand, nine found it not useful and the other seven found it only moderately useful. “Several whistleblowers told us that because of the complexity of the process, one should have an attorney to represent them. Specifically, nine whistleblowers commented on the need for an attorney during the settlement process,” it said.

Nine of them said they had waited between two and six years before their cases were settled. And six “said they did not believe VA was interested in settling their cases.” GAO quoted one as saying the VA “dragged out everything” and another as saying “the timelines are bent in favor of the VA, and the VA can (and does) provide [uncompelling] excuses on why they did not reach certain timelines along the process.”

Whistleblowers also “reported their personal costs of whistleblowing. These reported costs included negative financial, career, and health effects,” the report said, quoting whistleblowers as saying:

• On their finances: “I had spent $20,000 in legal fees and lost my home”; “My cost of litigation was 3 times more than the damages”; “The payment didn’t even cover my legal fees let alone the hundreds of thousands of lost wages and benefits”
• On their careers: “Even in a best case scenario… you will lose years of your career”; “They made me relocate and this was a huge burden for me and my family”; “I was forced out and had to take a position with lower pay as I had to support my family.”
• On their health: “The compensation did not match the level and duration of pain and suffering endured”; “[My] health, and mental capacity was stressed and tested the entire time due to retaliation and NOT being protected in any way”; “It . . . is very stressful. My health suffered immensely.”

Some further said that the retaliation continued even after the settlements were reached, for example with one saying the department “doubled-down on the retaliation in multiple documented ways” and another saying that “every time they kept violating, I kept reporting, and they kept retaliating. It was a vicious cycle.”

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