Whistleblowers on Trial: Does Not Refute

Dozens of cases - including that of the chief Medicare actuary, who was threatened with dismissal "if he provided data to Congress showing the cost of the new Medicare law" - have motivated Congress "to increase protections for federal employees who expose fraud, waste and wrongdoing." But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears whistleblower cases, "often assumes that a federal agency acted properly unless an employee offers 'irrefragable proof to the contrary'." New legislation (opposed by the Bush administration) would change the "irrefragable" - or impossible to refute - standard to "protect the disclosure of information that a whistleblower 'reasonably believes' to be evidence of government illegality or misconduct."