Earlier this year, President Obama signed into law the largest economic stimulus bill since the Great Depression — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While a number of the act’s provisions have garnered a lot of attention, § 1553, a less well-known provision, expands significantly the arsenal of claims available to disaffected employees of businesses receiving stimulus funds. The act, although modeled after other whistleblower statutes enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor, contains pro-employee provisions not generally found in other such statues. As yet, no courts have issued opinions discussing § 1553.
The act is sufficiently vague so as to encourage the argument that it governs all employers receiving stimulus funds, whether directly or indirectly. The act’s whistleblower provision applies to a broad range of employers including any “contractor, subcontractor, grantee, or recipient” of stimulus funds; “professional membership organization, certification or other professional body” receiving stimulus funds; “licensee of the Federal government” receiving stimulus funds; “person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer receiving covered funds;” and any contractor or subcontractor of the state or local government receiving stimulus funds.
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