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38 U.S.C. § 732 — Protection of whistleblowers as criteria in evaluation of supervisors
Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
**(a) Development and Use of Criteria Required.—** The Secretary, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, shall develop criteria that—
(1) the Secretary shall use as a critical element in any evaluation of the performance of a supervisory employee; and
(2) promotes the protection of whistleblowers.
**(b) Principles for Protection of Whistleblowers.—** The criteria required by subsection (a) shall include principles for the protection of whistleblowers, such as the degree to which supervisory employees respond constructively when employees of the Department report concerns, take responsible action to resolve such concerns, and foster an environment in which employees of the Department feel comfortable reporting concerns to supervisory employees or to the appropriate authorities.
**(c) Supervisory Employee and Whistleblower Defined.—** In this section, the terms “supervisory employee” and “whistleblower” have the meanings given such terms in [section 323 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title38-section323&num=0&edition=prelim).
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Source file: Laws/federal/codes/united-states-code/title-38/section-732-protection-of-whistleblowers-as-criteria-in-evaluation-of-supervisors--ec3814eb81.md
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Source location: Title 38, Chapter 7, § 732; chapter-007-employees.md
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**(a) Development and Use of Criteria Required.—** The Secretary, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, shall develop criteria that—
(1) the Secretary shall use as a critical element in any evaluation of the performance of a supervisory employee; and
(2) promotes the protection of whistleblowers.
**(b) Principles for Protection of Whistleblowers.—** The criteria required by subsection (a) shall include principles for the protection of whistleblowers, such as the degree to which supervisory employees respond constructively when employees of the Department report concerns, take responsible action to resolve such concerns, and foster an environment in which employees of the Department feel comfortable reporting concerns to supervisory employees or to the appropriate authorities.
**(c) Supervisory Employee and Whistleblower Defined.—** In this section, the terms “supervisory employee” and “whistleblower” have the meanings given such terms in [section 323 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title38-section323&num=0&edition=prelim).
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
**(a) Establishment.—** There is established in the Department an office to be known as the “Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection” (in this section referred to as the “Office”).
**(b) Head of Office.—**
(1) The head of the Office shall be responsible for the functions of the Office and shall be appointed by the President pursuant to [section 308(a) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title38-section308/a&num=0&edition=prelim).
(2) The head of the Office shall be known as the “Assistant Secretary for Accountability and Whistleblower Protection”.
(3) The Assistant Secretary shall report directly to the Secretary on all matters relating to the Office.
(4) Notwithstanding [section 308(b) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title38-section308/b&num=0&edition=prelim), the Secretary may only assign to the Assistant Secretary responsibilities relating to the functions of the Office set forth in subsection (c).
**(c) Functions.—**
(1) The functions of the Office are as follows:
(A) Advising the Secretary on all matters of the Department relating to accountability, including accountability of employees of the Department, retaliation against whistleblowers, and such matters as the Secretary considers similar and affect public trust in the Department.
(B) Issuing reports and providing recommendations related to the duties described in subparagraph (A).
(C) Receiving whistleblower disclosures.
(D) Referring whistleblower disclosures received under subparagraph (C) for investigation to the Office of the Medical Inspector, the Office of Inspector General, or other investigative entity, as appropriate, if the Assistant Secretary has reason to believe the whistleblower dis
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 38 U.S.C. § 323
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
**(a) In General.—**
(1) In accordance with paragraph (2), the Secretary shall carry out the following adverse actions against supervisory employees (as defined in [section 7103(a) of title 5](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section7103/a&num=0&edition=prelim)) whom the Secretary, an administrative judge, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Office of Special Counsel, an adjudicating body provided under a union contract, a Federal judge, or the Inspector General of the Department determines committed a prohibited personnel action described in subsection (c):
(A) With respect to the first offense, an adverse action that is not less than a 12-day suspension and not more than removal.
(B) With respect to the second offense, removal.
(2)
(A) An employee against whom an adverse action under paragraph (1) is proposed is entitled to written notice.
(B)
(i) An employee who is notified under subparagraph (A) of being the subject of a proposed adverse action under paragraph (1) is entitled to 10 days following such notification to answer and furnish evidence in support of the answer.
(ii) If the employee does not furnish any such evidence as described in clause (i) or if the Secretary determines that such evidence is not sufficient to reverse the determination to propose the adverse action, the Secretary shall carry out the adverse action following such 10-day period.
(C) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) of [section 7513 of title 5](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section7513&num=0&edition=prelim), subsection (c) of such section, paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) of section 7543 of such title, and subsection (c) of such section shall not apply with respect to an ad
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 38 U.S.C. § 731
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
Page 125
TITLE 38—VETERANS’ BENEFITS
§ 733
1 See References in Text note below.
(B) providing information or participating
as a witness in an investigation of a whistle-
blower disclosure made to the Assistant Sec-
retary for Accountability and Whistleblower
Protection, the Inspector General of the De-
partment, the Special Counsel, or Congress;
(C) participating in an audit or investiga-
tion by the Comptroller General of the
United States;
(D) refusing to perform an action that is
unlawful or prohibited by the Department;
or
(E) engaging in communications that are
related to the duties of the position or are
otherwise protected.
(2) Preventing or restricting an employee
from making an action described in any of
subparagraphs (A) through (E) of paragraph
(1).
(3) Conducting a negative peer review or
opening a retaliatory investigation because of
an activity of an employee that is protected
by section 2302 of title 5.
(4) Requesting a contractor to carry out an
action that is prohibited by section 4705(b) or
section 4712(a)(1) of title 41, as the case may
be.
(d) WHISTLEBLOWER DISCLOSURE DEFINED.—In
this section, the term ‘‘whistleblower disclo-
sure’’ has the meaning given such term in sec-
tion 323(g) of this title.
(Added Pub. L. 114–223, div. A, title II, § 247(a)(1),
Sept. 29, 2016, 130 Stat. 887, § 733; renumbered § 731
and amended Pub. L. 115–41, title I, § 102(a)(2),
(c), title II, § 206, June 23, 2017, 131 Stat. 865, 867,
877.)
Editorial Notes
PRIOR PROVISIONS
A prior section 731, added Pub. L. 114–223, div. A, title
II, § 247(a)(1), Sept. 29, 2016, 130 Stat. 884, defined whis-
tleblower complaint, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 115–41,
title I, § 102(a)(1), June 23, 2017, 131 Stat. 865.
AMENDMENTS
2017—Pub. L. 115–41, § 102(a)(2),
Source: Supplied 2024 U.S. Code historical extraction · 38 U.S.C. § 732
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