By Jesse Russell

The recent Supreme Court ruling that inhibits the ability of whistleblowers to have protection on the job will have little impact on federal workers according to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees:

[Gage1]: The real problem is the chilling effect it will have on whistleblowers. And this administration puts enough of a chill by itself and to have the Supreme Court and especially the newspapers and the media come out and say this was a blow to whistleblowers, it was a blow to whistleblowers because it was so chilling. I think they should be covered by First Amendment rights; however in the case of federal employees we still have our protection under a whistleblower statute.

Gage explained how the statute protects federal whistleblowers:

[Gage2]: The statute gives basic protections for whistleblowers that there can't be recriminations or reprisals or actions taken against them because of their whistleblower activities. Quite different then a First Amendment challenge.