How whistleblower cases move through the legal system

A whistleblower case moves through the legal system in fixed steps. An employee makes a protected disclosure. An inspector general or the Office of Special Counsel takes the complaint. The Merit Systems Protection Board hears retaliation claims. Intelligence reports of urgent concern reach Congress under their own law. Each step has a named office and a clock. The route changes with the job. Most federal workers use the civil service track, written in 1989. Intelligence workers follow a separate 1998 law built for classified information. Both rest on one idea: a report of official wrongdoing should reach an office able to act. What counts as a protected disclosure? Under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, a protected disclosure reports a possible violation of law, rules, or regulations, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, per the statute's text.

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