National Whistleblower Appreciation Day Podcast
Scheduled Air Date: July 30, 2026

Lori: By exposing wrongdoing, whistleblowers have saved taxpayers billions of dollars. They are the primary defense against illegal activities, like fraud and waste of taxpayer funds. Whistleblowers are critical to helping the EPA OIG meet our mission of preventing and detecting waste, fraud, and abuse in the EPA and the CSB.

Kim: Hello and welcome to another episode of EPA Uncovered, the official podcast of the EPA Office of Inspector General. I'm your host, Kim Wheeler, and today we are celebrating National Whistleblower Appreciation Day. Every year, on July 30th, this special day recognizes the essential role that whistleblowers have in helping to root out fraud, abuse, waste, mismanagement, and other misconduct in government operations. Now, whistleblowers provide a valuable public service—their disclosures help protect taxpayer dollars and strengthen government programs. Joining me today to celebrate this important occasion is our whistleblower protection coordinator, Lori Ruk. Lori, thanks for being here.

Lori: Thanks for having me. I'm always happy to talk about whistleblower protection.

Kim: So, Lori, today is obviously an important day, especially for those of us in the oversight community. Whistleblowers are very crucial to what we do. How are you celebrating at the EPA OIG?

Lori: Well, here at the EPA OIG, what we've been doing for the past few years is we've been holding a Whistleblower Appreciation Day presentation for employees of the EPA and CSB. During this presentation, we provide information about whistleblower protections and their rights and remedies against retaliation. We also provide some discussion about how the whistleblowers have actually been able to assist the OIG in providing us information that has resulted in audits and investigations. We have also been fortunate to have people who were actual whistleblowers come and talk about their experience as a whistleblower, both in the government and in the private sector. So, people can understand what it's like to be a whistleblower as well as the benefits, how they can achieve real results by making disclosures. 

Kim: That sounds like such an amazing and interesting way to celebrate this day and kind of get the word out. And I'm with you, I don't think we can overstate the value that whistleblowers bring when it comes to ensuring integrity and accountability in government operations. So, for listeners who may have heard the term ‘whistleblower,’ but maybe they aren't super familiar with what it is and why we would be celebrating it.
Can you talk to us a little bit about, you know, how we define ‘whistleblower’?

Lori: Sure. So, when we talk about a whistleblower, I mean, in general terms, a whistleblower is someone who discloses evidence of wrongdoing. But when we talk about a whistleblower as it pertains to the civil service law, the legal definition for a whistleblower is a current or former federal employee or an applicant for federal employment who discloses information which the individual reasonably believes is evidence of wrongdoing in one of six categories—a violation of law, rule or regulation, gross mismanagement, a  gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or censorship related to scientific research or analysis, if the censorship results in one of the categories that I just mentioned.

Kim: It sounds like whistleblowers can provide some really important information about how you know what's happening behind closed doors, behind the scenes. How does that help an OIG like the EPA OIG to perform their mission to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse?

Lori: Whistleblowers, who report evidence of wrongdoing to the OIG's hotline, are critical to helping the EPA OIG meet our mission of preventing and detecting waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs and operations of both the EPA and the CSB. These disclosures play a vital role in the oversight that OIGs do, and the federal whistleblowers, they are the primary defense against illegal activities, like fraud and waste of taxpayer funds. By exposing wrongdoing, whistleblowers have saved taxpayers billions of dollars.

Kim: So, when we're talking about, you know, the great impact that they can have and how important information they share with us, is as the Whistleblower Protection Coordinator, how do you help? Where do you fit in?

Lori: The Inspector General Act, this is the law that establishes the responsibilities and duties of an Inspector General, it requires that each IG designate someone to serve as the whistle blower protection coordinator. And, our duties are to educate agency employees about the prohibitions against retaliation for whistleblowing as well as the rights and remedies against retaliation for making protected disclosures and engaging in protected activities. So, we conduct outreach efforts such as presentations to agency employees. I also monitor and respond to individuals who contact our whistleblower protection hotline or who send emails to our email account with questions.

Kim: You talked about whistleblower rights and protections. What should federal employees, employees of the EPA or CSB contractors, their grantees or subrecipients, basically, anyone related to EPA and CSB programs, what should they know about their rights and protections when they're making a whistleblower disclosure?

Lori: So let's first take a look at federal employees. So federal employees should know that it's unlawful for their supervisors to take, fail to take, or threaten to withhold a personnel action because the employee made a protected disclosure or engaged in protected activity. The Whistleblower Protection Act defines a personnel action as being broader than just a termination or a suspension. It includes promotions, details, performance evaluations or any significant change in the duties, responsibilities, or working conditions of the employees. And when we're talking about employee of federal contractors and grantees, they also have whistleblower protections. However, their protections differ somewhat because the disclosure that they make in order to be protected, it has to be related to wrongdoing pertaining to the federal grant or contract. Also, for federal employees, they can make their disclosure to almost anyone. But in particular, employees of contractors and grantees must make their disclosure of wrongdoing to someone identified in the statute. So, for example, this does include an Office of Inspector General and a federal employee who is responsible for contract or grant management at the agency that provides the contract or grant.

Kim: Okay, so, let's say that a federal employee or the employee of a contractor or grantee, they make a whistleblower disclosure and they believe that as a result of that disclosure, they are being retaliated against. What happens, when something like that happens?

Lori: For federal employees who believe they have been retaliated against for making a protected disclosure, they can file a complaint with our office, the Office of Inspector General or the Office of Special Counsel. Here at the OIG, we have an Administrative Investigations Directorate that investigates allegations of whistleblower retaliation. And if the OIG identifies evidence that supports the finding of retaliation, the investigators will prepare a report of investigation which details the evidence in their findings and issue it to appropriate management officials who can take corrective action. Also, the Inspector General Act requires that the IG disclose any instance of whistleblower retaliation in a required semiannual report to Congress. In that report, the IG must include a detailed description of what occurred, information about the official who engaged in retaliation, as well as any consequences that were imposed on the official to hold them accountable for retaliation. So, if an employee of an EPA contractor or grantee believes they have been retaliated against for making a protected disclosure relating to the contract or grant, the employee must file a complaint with the EPA Office of Inspector General. As long as the complaint is not frivolous or has not already been addressed in another proceeding, the Inspector General must investigate the complaint and submit a report to the EPA Administrator. Then the Administrator, will review the report and determine whether there is a sufficient basis to find that the employer engaged in retaliation and if there is a determination that there was retaliation, the Administrator could order that employer to take corrective action to reverse the effects of the retaliation. This can include reinstating the employee as well as providing back pay.

Kim: It sounds like we have some very thorough procedures in place to help someone who believes that they are experiencing retaliation for making a disclosure. If someone is really concerned that, you know, it will come back to them, they'll experience retaliation, can someone blow the whistle anonymously?

Lori: Yes, absolutely. When filing a complaint on the OIG website, the user can choose if they want the complaint to be anonymous. Which means that the OIG will not even know their name or contact information. Complainants should be aware, however, if they file a complaint anonymously, the OIG will not be able to contact them for additional information that might be needed to investigate their allegations. The complainant can also choose to file a confidential complaint. The OIG takes confidentiality very seriously. It means that the Office of Inspector General will not disclose the identity of the complainant without their consent, unless the Inspector General determines that such disclosure is unavoidable in the course of an investigation.

Kim: So, it sounds like Congress and the OIG—like, whistleblower protection is something that's taken very seriously, whistleblowers perform a very vital service. I know here at the EPA OIG we just recently had a Fraudcast with our Assistant Inspector General for investigations, and he was talking about this really high-profile money laundering conspiracy case that actually was the result of a complaint to our hotline. So you know, it is really important if someone believes that they have information, even if they can't prove it, even if it's just a suspicion; if they believe that they have information that would reasonably indicate wrongdoing, misconduct, mismanagement in an EPA or CSB program, they should bring that information forward. How would they do that, Lori? How would they get in touch with us?

Lori: Anyone who wants to file a complaint with the EPA OIG, all they have to do is go to our website and they can file a complaint with the hotline using the online form. There they can also send us an email at oig.hotline@epa.gov or they can even just give us a call at 1 (888) 546-8740 and leave a message on our voicemail. Our hotline coordinator reviews each allegation that comes in and refers them to the relevant component of the Office of Inspector General, whether it be the Office of Investigations, Office of Audit, or the Office of Special Review and Evaluation.

Kim: Well, Lori, that is all the time that we have today. We really appreciate you being here, talking us through all this important information about whistleblowers and protected disclosures. It is a lot, so for our listeners, if you are looking for more information about whistleblower protections, or our hotline, or how to make a protected disclosure, you can find that at our website, which is www.EPAOIG.gov. Thank you for joining us today, thank you for tuning in. And today—and every day—we extend our sincere appreciation to all whistleblowers who have spoken up in the public interest. Until next time, thanks for listening.