Our objective was to determine whether the Department includes the anti-gag provision statement, as required by the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA), in nondisclosure policies, forms, or agreements.
We found that the Department did not include the anti-gag provision statement, required by the WPEA, in all applicable nondisclosure agreements and forms. Specifically, we identified 6 agreements or forms developed by or currently being used by 3 of the Department’s 17 principal offices that did not contain the required statement.
This occurred because the Department does not have documented policies and procedures relating to the development of nondisclosure forms or agreements and has not developed a process to ensure that the anti-gag provision statement is included, when required, in nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements.
We made two recommendations to the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) to improve the Department’s compliance with the WPEA and address the issues identified during the inspection.