Early this week, U.S. Department of Labor assistant secretary Raymond Jefferson resigned amidst an investigation into a whistleblower’s tip on mismanagement of government contracts. According to an article in the Kansas City Star, the investigation began when a federal employee reached out to the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, a congressional group headed by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill that targets waste, fraud and abuse in government contracting.

In an effort to curb financial misconduct in the wake of the 2008 recession, the recent Dodd-Frank act strengthened the whistleblower protection measures of Sarbanes-Oxley Act by providing incentives to informants who step forward and speak up. According to the act, informants who provide “original information” to the Securities and Exchange Commission can be awarded [...]