ARRA Whistleblower Protection Notification
Seattle Children’s Research Institute has been awarded funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). In order to accept ARRA funding, employers must have in place policies prohibiting retaliation against employees who make good-faith reports of misconduct (See Reporting and Non-Retaliation Policy [Children's network only, PDF]). Seattle Children’s already has such a policy, and will provide appropriate support to reporting employees to protect against retaliation and respond to concerns of retaliation or unfair treatment linked to the employee’s reporting.
ARRA expressly states that:
- As a receiver of stimulus funds, Seattle Children’s may not discharge, demote or otherwise discriminate against a Children’s employee as reprisal for disclosing information that the employee reasonably believes is evidence of gross mismanagement of:
- an agency contract or grant relating to covered funds;
- a gross waste of covered funds;
- a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the implementation or use of covered funds;
- an abuse of authority related to the implementation or use of covered funds; or
- a violation of law, rule, or regulation related to an agency contract or grant awarded or issued relating to covered funds.
- Under ARRA, an employee may make a disclosure of the information described above to one or more of the following:
- the Recovery Accountability and Transparency (RAAT) Board;
- an inspector general of a federal agency;
- the Comptroller General;
- a member of Congress;
- a state or federal regulatory or law enforcement agency;
- a person with supervisory authority over the employee or such other person working for the employer who has the authority to investigate, discover or terminate misconduct;
- a court or grand jury;
- or the head of a federal agency or their representatives.
Seattle Children’s has a confidential reporting service that may be used for this purpose where anonymous reports may be made (call the Compliance Helpline at 877-483-3049 or report your concern online using EthicsPoint). In addition, you also have the option of reporting your concerns directly to the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services through the OIG Hotline. The choice of which reporting option(s) to use rests with the individual making the report.
A full description of your rights and remedies provided under the act can be found here:
Questions may be directed to the Office of Research Compliance.