As you may or may not know, OSHA administers the whistleblower
portions of about 22 federal statutes. Similar to the recent
information from the SEC about problematic language in settlement
agreements, OSHA, in its role as administer of the whistleblower
program, has recently announced its new guidelines for approving settlement
agreements for whistleblower actions. The guidance focuses on
"gag" provisions that may discourage a complainant from
providing information to the government, discourages or restricts
protected activity, provisions requiring prior notice to the
employer before communicating with the government, provisions
requiring the complainant to affirm she has not previously provided
information to the government, waivers of the right to receive a
monetary award from a government administered whistleblower award
program (specifically citing to the SEC), provisions requiring the
breaching party to pay liquidated damages, and broad
confidentiality and
