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U.S. Office of Special Counsel
1730 M Street, N.W., Suite 218
Washington, D.C. 20036-4505
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SPECIAL COUNSEL BLOCH RESPONDS TO GAO REPORT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 4/12/04
CONTACT: CATHY DEEDS
(202) 254-3600
Consistent with the
recommendations of a March 2004 GAO report to Congress, The Office of
Special Counsel has begun an aggressive strategy to undertake a priority
review of all its older and backlogged whistleblower disclosures and
prohibited personnel practice complaints filed with the Agency that have
lagged in the system.
Scott J. Bloch, who was sworn in as new Special Counsel
in January 2004, welcomed the findings and began a comprehensive assessment
that includes reviewing the statutory time limits and procedures and fairly
resolving all the pending cases by the end of the year. In addition, a new
Special Projects Unit devoted chiefly to reducing the backlogs in the Agency
and developing procedures to better maintain caseload was recently created.
“We cannot sit by and let these complaints go unheard
for so long,” Bloch said. “My promise to federal employees whose cases have
been unanswered is that I will ask our best attorneys and staff to fairly
and completely review your cases and make a timely recommendation for
resolution. We look forward to working with Congress to address the concerns
of aggrieved federal employees and to judiciously handle these cases. I
intend to propose methods to ensure that these unacceptable delays in
processing of employee complaints will never occur again.”
The Office of Special Counsel is an independent
investigative and prosecutorial agency. Its primary mission is to safeguard
the merit system in federal employment by protecting federal employees and
applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially retaliation for
whistleblowing. OSC also has jurisdiction over the Hatch Act and the
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
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