Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project
Programs
Food Integrity Advocacy
FOOD INTEGRITY & CORPORATE/GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY Under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), we represent two contract farmers who have raised concerns about the unfair practices of Purdue Farms, the company for which they once worked. On their behalf we filed a complaint with the US Department of Labor and during the resulting administrative law proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge found that the FSMA did apply to these farmers and that their whistleblowing through non-governmental organizations qualified for protection under the act. During 2024 while the parties were pursuing discovery, Perdue sued Craig Watts, one of the farmers, and the Department of Labor in federal district court alleging that his 7th Amendment right to a jury trial was violated by the FSMA. We are actively opposing this attempt to cripple an important protection for food safety whistleblowers. We were able to push back against efforts to weaken the Packers and Stockyard Act and able to share our recommendations for the implementation of the laws final rules. Three of the four suggestions we offered were included included in the final regulations. We also supported legislation to increase traceability efforts in food as well as increased transparency and communication not only between federal and state agencies, but from companies themselves as well. We advocated for several pieces of legislation that would strengthen whistleblower protections, including legislation that would grant the same whistleblowers protections to the Legislative Branch as other governmental or corporate employees enjoy. Our Know Your Rights campaign continued as we made presentations to a number of federal employees across agencies,including the FDA, DOJ, and USDA. We submitted a statement to Congress in support of the April 16, 2024, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Legacy of Harm: Eliminating the Abuse of Solitary Confinement. The report detailed our whistleblowers disclosures and extensive work on the subject. After we reported multiple whistleblower to Congress, the Office of Special Counsel, and the Department of Homeland Security about misconduct from the Acting CPB Chief Medical Officer throughout 2024, he was removed from his position in December. We reached a resolution with the White House Office of Science and Technology over a whistleblower complaint regarding the Presidents then-top advisor in 2022 who was accused of bullying and demeaning his subordinates. Though the terms and nature of the resolution remain confidential, we can disclose that an agreement was reached. We researched and filed an amicus brief in the US Supreme Court on behalf of US Senators Charles Grassley and Ron Wyden to contest a corporate whistleblower case decision by the Federal Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit which upended the burdens of proof in nearly every federal whistleblower law in the nation, including Sarbanes Oxley, the Safe Food Modernization Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and over twenty other laws protecting whistleblowers who expose violations of law, environmental dangers, public health threats, worker endangerment, and government fraud. The unacceptable burden of proof established by the panel of judges would force a whistleblower to prove that the his or her employer had acted out of malice in retaliating against the employee for their whistleblowing. We filed the amicus in February 2023, and in February 2024 the Court overturned the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in a unanimous decision. It was the first time the Supreme Court has ever rendered a decision about the burdens of proof first established in 1989 with the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Act. We collaborated with several coalition partners and allies including Campaign for Agriculture Reform and Safe Food Coalition. With them, we have been able to share our legislative recommendations to strengthen legislation regarding public and food safety. With the Safe Food Coalition, we formally advocated against attempts to delay important food safety protections, such as the full implementation of FSMA, and expressed support for bills that address gaps in the FDAs authority to address food and safety concerns.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$2.4MEnvironmental Accountability Initiatives
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE In April 2024, we released the fourth installment of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Report that reveals terrifying consequences of cleanup with the use of the chemical Corexit. The report, released just before before the 14th memorial of the oil disaster, features nearly two dozen new affidavits from whistleblowers including cleanup workers, residents, journalists, medical personnel, filmmakers, BP contractors and an EPA official. As a whole, they reveal the devastating long-term and ongoing effects of oil and a toxic chemical dispersant on their bodies and the environment. In August, along with the ALERT Project we filed a petition to the EPA and the UN to delist Corexit and ban the use of its stockpiles. This follows our successful push to get the manufacturer to stop producing the toxic chemical. Our efforts to investigate the catastrophic train derailment from early 2023 have continued, and in July 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened an investigation into the Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) flight missions, policies, procedures, and quality assurance project plans employed during EPAs response to the disaster. This investigation was launched after our whistleblowers exposed discrepancies between their results and the results from the contractors hired by the railway company. These whistleblowers found significantly higher levels of toxins throughout the community compared to what the corporate contractor reported. In September, we filed a petition based on four whistleblower disclosures to the EPA to start hotline to the EPAs OIG to investigate the mishandling of the situation. In December 2024, we sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FEMAs parent agency, for failing to generate responsive documents to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made earlier regarding FEMAs role in the East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment response.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$221.4KInternational Whistleblower Support
INTERNATIONAL In 2024 the first Spanish-language whistleblower website launched in Chile, where whistleblower rights are a novelty among the legal community. The website, Whistleblower Chile, gives people access to resources and creates awareness about whistleblowing, including Chilean case law, statutes,and profiles of whistleblowers from Chile and other Spanish-language countries. This project was created by our Senior International Fellow for Latin America, Jorge Martnez Rivera. In 2024, Government Accountability Project wrapped up its three-year project in Serbia with Pitaljka/Eutopia Association to help increase the capacity of future lawyers to practice anti-corruption and whistleblower law and provide legal services to whistleblowers through increasing University of Belgrade Law School students knowledge of whistleblower law and teaching them lawyering skills. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In July 2024, Government Accountability Projects International Director and Senior International Fellow for Latin America attended Transparency Internationals Anti-Corruption Conference in Lithuania. Our International Director spoke on a panel on international whistleblower rights. In August 2024, Government Accountability Projects International Director and Legal Director traveled to Oslo, Norway to present their research on the implementation of the European Union whistleblower directive. International Whistleblowing Research Network organized the conference. In October 2024, Government Accountability Project received a subgrant from the Association for the Promotion of Good Governance and Performance SHIFT in Croatia to implement a projected funded by the U.S. Department of State. The name of the project is Supporting transparency of governance and strengthening whistleblower protections in Croatia. In May 2024, Government Accountability Projects International Director, Legal Director, and Senior International Fellow for Latin America participated in a a project to help the Directorate-General for Ethics and Government Integrity (DIGEIG) develop a draft law on the protection of whistleblowers. This project was supported by the Program for the Development of Commercial Law (CLDP) of the United States Department of Commerce, and USAID and included a workshop in the Dominican Republic in November 2024, where we presented international best practices for whistleblower legislation. The Government Accountability Project continued to provide global leadership with Legal Director Tom Devine continuing to serve on the Board of Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and International Director Samantha Feinstein continuing as Vice Chair of the Board on the United Nation Convention Against Corruption committee. GAP helped WIN prepare a policy rebuttal and engage in public advocacy leading to withdrawal of an anti-whistleblower law in Slovakia that would have violated the 2019 EU Whistleblower Directive for which GAP was on the front lines of development. We sourced nonpublic datasets from several different corporate secrecy havens in the Americas that will provide the basis for collaborative investigative projects. Co-hosted by the US Embassy in Mexico and other organizations, our international program director traveled to Mexico City in April 2024 for the 4th roundtable meeting on Combatting Corruption through Whistleblowers in Mexico. With the objective of developing a potential law through training and mentorship, GAP presented the 20 best whistleblower practices and a general overview of international whistleblowing practices. Our work also included a workshop to develop principles for a future whistleblower law in Mexico. When a delegation from Mexico came to DC on a whistleblower study tour, we provided an overview of whistleblower laws and frameworks and discussed the role of the relationship between civil society and the government. In May 2024, Government Accountability Project submitted a letter to the UN Internal Justice Council recommending 62 practical internal policy improvements to reform its internal justice system and whistleblower protections to conform with international best practices. We also continued to represent whistleblowers from the UN and other international organizations.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$236.9K
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