Nearly seven years past its Congressionally-set deadline, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has finally proposed rules for its legally-mandated whistleblower award program. According to whistleblower advocates, however, the regulations are deficient in ways which could undermine the efficacy of the auto-safety whistleblower program.
In January 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) was signed into law. The FAST Act contains a whistleblower reward law for auto-manufacturing whistleblowers, the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act (MVSWA). The Act required the Department of Transportation (DOT) to approve and publish regulations implementing its whistleblower program on or before July 6, 2016.
The FAST Act specifically called for the DOT to set forth how auto safety whistleblowers can anonymously file safety reports, how whistleblowers are ensured the full protection of confidentiality, and the requirements for qualifying for monetary whistleblower rewards. The agency’s delinquency on the rules have been covered extensively at WNN, dating back to 2016.
In 2020, the DOT confirmed to WNN that the agency had failed to publish proposed rules, and simply stated that they were “working” on such rules. At the time, Stephen M. Kohn, whistleblower attorney for qui tam law firm Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) said “we approached DOT in 2016, requesting that...
Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, discusses a class-action lawsuit against Chicago cannabis companies for allegedly marketing products with false medical benefits on 'America's New...