December 9, 2020 by Robert Connolly Leave a Comment
Congratulations to Senator Chuck Grassley and Patrick Leahy for the passage in the House of Representatives of their bipartisan legislation that has already passed the Senate that aims to protect whistleblowers who come forward with information on criminal antitrust violations. In a December 8, 2020 Press Release Senator Grassley said, “The Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act encourages and shields from reprisal private sector employees to shine a light on activities that violate our antitrust laws. This bipartisan bill is an important step to safeguarding fair marketplaces as well as the whistleblowers who support them. It’s earned broad support in both chambers of Congress, and I urge President Trump to sign it into law without delay.” The Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act, which unanimously passed the Senate last year, must now be signed by the President to become law.
The bill allows an employee who believes he or she is the victim of retaliation for providing information to the Department of Justice related to criminal antitrust violations to file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor. The bill does not provide potential compensation to a whistleblower. A whistleblower, however, may be reinstated to their former status if the Secretary finds in their favor. “The Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act encourages and shields from reprisal private sector employees to shine a light on activities that violate our antitrust laws,” Grassley said in the statement.
Additional original cosponsors of the legislation are: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).