WhistleBlower Watch

An employee who became a Whistleblower at one time had to be
a really brave individual who could be going out on a limb and
risking his job, his career opportunity within the company or
even outside it. Any person who considers that his company or
one or more of his colleagues are committing acts that against
the best interest of the company, their employees, their
customers or against the common good, he or she should consider
the significance of their acts before taking their findings or
theories a stage further.

They should consider the following:

* Is their findings based on fact or supposition?
* Is the person or persons involved in suspicious activities
acting alone or are there more people involved?
* If they are totally convinced that dishonest activities are
going on in the company, to who should the report it? A company
official, the press, tax authorities or the police?
* Should they preserve their anonymity or should they come out
into the open with their disclosures?

Nowadays there are series of legislations in effect across
the United States relating to the issue of whistleblowing.
However they are still pretty spurious and undefined. The
accent is towards protecting the interests of the public sector
and publicly owned corporations. Anyone working for a privately
owned company who suspects that wrong doing is afoot, is not
such a strong position, however they do have some level of
protection.

Employees who report their employers for wrong doing cannot
be fired or even demoted for doing so. In fact, a recent law
states that they might even be liable for promotion. While it
sounds very fair on paper, it practical terms it is very
possible to question the fact these laws could ever be put into
practice in the private sector. Any well meaning citizen who
witnesses “under the table” or dubious business dealings,
should be prepared to seek employment elsewhere or preserve his
anonymity before blowing the whistle.

Employees of public companies are in a much stronger
position and now have the right to inform the federal
government about possible corporate scandals. There have been
cases when the whistleblower’s suspicions have been proved to
be unfounded; however the fact that they reported the situation
to their employers for investigation was viewed in a positive
light.

These anomalies in the practical application of the law
display the problematic issues with whistleblowing between the
private and public sectors. Anyone considering whistleblowing,
especially those involved in the private sector, depending on
the nature of the offense and its urgency might well be advised
to consult with a lawyer before bringing their suspicions to
the relevant authorities.

The story of the well meaning employee who reported a
scandal in his company only to discover that it went all the
way to the top, and resulted in the well intentioned person
losing his job, but also had his good name besmirched and
remained unemployed for a long time after. People who hear
these stories have been known to smile a smile of silent
satisfaction, and think to themselves “It could have happened
to me” I could have reported the guy in purchasing, who I know
is buying materials at inflated prices, and is getting a kick
back from the suppliers. But why should I? What will I get out
of it? The same as that poor person?

However, people who blow the whistle on illegal or unethical
practices – especially in public companies or corporations -
now receive full protection as a result of recent legislation
that has been passed to protect the informant in the case of
corporate scandals.

This new act, known as the Whistleblower Act forbids
retaliation against employees of public or federal operated
companies who report official wrongdoing. However, in order to
receive the protection that they are entitled in the case of
discrimination, the whistle blowers themselves need to follow
certain procedures in order to receive protection. The people
themselves must initiate action against their employers due to
the fact that the Attorney General’s office cannot file suit to
enforce people’s rights under this new law.

A state or local governmental body may not suspend or
terminate the employment of a public employee who reports a
violation of the law to an appropriate law enforcement
authority, if the employee report is made in good faith and
under the terms of the Whistleblower Act.

Any public employee who reports a desecration of law and was
the target of retaliation or discrimination that meets the
law’s requirements may file suit against a state or local
governmental body for damages and/or reinstatement, lost wages,
costs, and legal fees.

This is one of the most interesting points: Not only can
owners, officers and supervisors of a corporation be found
liable under this new law, but so can contractors and vendors
who compromise the rights of a whistle-blower employee.

Before taking action under the Whistleblower Act, certain
sets of requirements need to be followed. The employee must
have reported, in good faith, what was believed to be the
breaking of a federal or state law, a local government decree,
or a rule adopted under a law or a decree.

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My Sitemap

Alphabetical Sitemap

• Whistleblower
  Whistleblowing in the Corporate and Public Sectors
  index.html
• Whistleblower Policy
  Policy to Protect and Reward Informants in Public and Private Organizations
  whistleblower-policy.html
• Whistleblower Protection
  Laws to protect whistleblowers offer considerable protection
  whistleblower-protection.html
• Whistleblower Retaliation
  How to Minimize Whistleblower Retaliation with Legislation
  whistleblower-retaliation.html
• Federal Whistleblower
  How Federal employees have more Whistleblower protection than employees of private companies
  federal-whistleblower.html
• Government Fraud
  How the Whistleblower Act (2001) has reduced Government Fraud
  government-fraud.html
• Federal Whistleblower Protection
  The Whistle Blower Protection Act Reviewed
  federal-whistleblower-protection.html
• Government Accountability
  The Role of the Government Accountability Office in terms of Whistleblower protection
  government-accountability.html
• Corporate Whistleblowers
  A History of Corporate Whistleblowing
  corporate-whistleblower.html
• Why We Need Whistle Blowing
  Whistle blowing is more than reporting a violation
  Why_We_Need_Whistle_Blowing.html
• Whistleblower Program
  Key components of all Whistleblower Programs: Anonymity and Objectivity
  whistleblower-program.html
• Protection from Whistleblower Retaliation
  There is a law against whistleblower retaliation that protects all whistleblowers from being retaliated upon by their employers.
  Protection_from_Whistleblower_Retaliation.html
• Hotline Whistleblower
  Using “Hotlines” to reduce fraud and protect the Informant
  hotline-whistleblower.html
• Employee Whistleblowing
  Tips before informing on your Employer
  employee-whistleblower.html
• Whistleblower Law
  Laws to protect the rights of Whistleblowers in both public and private companies
  whistleblower-law.html
• Whistleblower Legislation
  How Whistleblower Legislation protects the financial assets of the company and the whistleblower
  whistleblower-legislation.html
• The Whistleblower Act
  Whistleblower Act offers protection and rewards to Informants
  whistleblower-act.html
• Whistleblowers Protection Act
  How the Whistleblowers Protection Act Protects and Rewards Informants
  whistleblowers-protection-act.html
• Whistleblower Protection Law
  Whistleblower Protection Act and other laws to protect Whistleblowers
  whistleblower-protection-law.html
• Whistleblower Attorney
  Using a Whistleblower Attorney effectively for Qui tam claims
  whistleblower-attorney.html
• Whistleblower Law Firm
  How Law Firms specializing in qui tam can benefit Whistleblowers
  whistleblower-law-firm.html
• Privacy
  Privacy_Statement.html
• Site Map
  sitemap-page-order.html

As whistleblowing has become an increasingly recognized and
approved practice and its value to the public more appreciated,
then legislation has been introduced initially to protect the
whistleblower and more recently the legislation has been fine
tuned to allow a form of reward to be paid out in certain
cases.

To further legitimize the act of whistleblowing, most major
corporations and public bodies have drawn up a clearly defined
policy on the matter, and how they would expect their employees
to act should a situation arise, where they would be expected
to blow the whistle on a colleague or colleagues.

The fact that these policies have been dictated as their
employers, almost as a term of their contract takes a lot of
the onus of the whistleblower, and offers protection which was
not always specific in the past.

Examples of typical irregular procedures where an employee
is obliged to whistle blow run as follows: * Fraud or
deliberate misreporting in the preparation, review or audit of
a company’s financial statement; * Fraud or deliberate
misreporting in recording and maintaining of a company’s
financial records; and * Preparing false statements to a
company’s officers or accountants.

Once a complaint has been received, which can be of a
financial or any other nature, procedures have to be carried
out to ascertain the nature of the complaint and how it should
be treated. The procedure should be as follows: * As soon as
complaint is recorded, the official who is designated to handle
it will ascertain the nature of the complaint and which
department will be involved in its handling; * The person who
made the complaint (the whistleblower) will receive a written
confirmation of the complaint and how it will be handled; *
Confidentiality will be maintained to the fullest extent
possible, consistent with the need to conduct an adequate
review; * Prompt and appropriate corrective action will be
decided and taken. These are the standard procedures that have
been adopted by most of the US states.

These measures have been introduced to protect and safeguard
the interests of the whistleblower; however these statutes vary
widely in coverage according to each state. In the public
sector the statutes appear to be holding firm, however with in
the private sector, whistleblowers appear not to be enjoying
anything like the same levels of protection.

Protecting workers against retaliation for complaining to
their employers or their trade union, the Occupational Safety
and Health Act (OSH Act) and a number of other laws were
designed to protect whistleblowers. The law states that they
may not be transferred, denied a raise, have their hours
reduced, or are fired or punished in any other way.

Pursuant to the laws that protect informants, discrimination
complaints must be filed within 30 days of the alleged
reprisal. Occupational Safety and Health Act staff will readily
explain the protections available under the whistleblower laws
as well as the deadlines for filing complaints.

Workers including private sector employees may file
complaints for retaliation with either a federal Occupational
Safety or Health Act Area or with a State Plan representative.
States operating Occupational Safety and Health Acts also
protect state and local government employees against
retaliation, but in those states, public sector workers can
file complaints for retaliation only with State Plan
representatives.

Employees who believe that their employer has discriminated
or retaliated against them for raising or reporting safety or
health concerns under the Occupational Safety and Health Act,
may file a complaint if they believe that their employer has
discriminated against them for reporting protected safety
concerns involving a variety of offences that are relative to
the specific trade or profession that they are involved in, be
it blue collar or white collar.

Also enforced by the US Department of Labor are various
other anti-retaliation provisions covering several other
statutes that are not administered by the Occupational Safety
and Health Act?

Generally, the employee protection laws prohibit an employer
from dismissing or displaying any other form of discrimination
against any employee, regarding the employee’s salary
compensation, terms and conditions or employment, or previously
negotiated privileges of employment because the employee
engaged in specified “protected” activities, such as
whistleblowing.

Any company or federal employee who believes that they have
been a victim of discrimination are entitled to file a
complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Act officers
and are entitled to the full protection of the law.

Site Map (Alphabetical)

To see an ordinary site map click here

• Corporate Whistleblowers
  A History of Corporate Whistleblowing

• Employee Whistleblowing
  Tips before informing on your Employer

• Federal Whistleblower
  How Federal employees have more Whistleblower protection than employees of private companies

• Federal Whistleblower Protection
  The Whistle Blower Protection Act Reviewed

• Government Accountability
  The Role of the Government Accountability Office in terms of Whistleblower protection

• Government Fraud
  How the Whistleblower Act (2001) has reduced Government Fraud

• Hotline Whistleblower
  Using “Hotlines” to reduce fraud and protect the Informant

• Other Resources
• The Whistleblower Act
  Whistleblower Act offers protection and rewards to Informants

• Whistleblower
  Whistleblowing in the Corporate and Public Sectors

• Whistleblower Attorney
  Using a Whistleblower Attorney effectively for Qui tam claims

• Whistleblower Law
  Laws to protect the rights of Whistleblowers in both public and private companies

• Whistleblower Law Firm
  How Law Firms specializing in qui tam can benefit Whistleblowers

• Whistleblower Legislation
  How Whistleblower Legislation protects the financial assets of the company and the whistleblower

• Whistleblower Policy
  Policy to Protect and Reward Informants in Public and Private Organizations

• Whistleblower Program
  Key components of all Whistleblower Programs: Anonymity and Objectivity

• Whistleblower Protection
  Laws to protect whistleblowers offer considerable protection

• Whistleblower Protection Law
  Whistleblower Protection Act and other laws to protect Whistleblowers

• Whistleblower Retaliation
  How to Minimize Whistleblower Retaliation with Legislation

• Whistleblowers Protection Act
  How the Whistleblowers Protection Act Protects and Rewards Informants

There was a time that looking the other way or turning the
other cheek or not getting involved was the norm, both in
family life and in professional life. However in recent years,
possibly as a result of a more aggressive media presence in the
developed world, individuals are more inclined the blow the
whistle to the relevant authorities or the media regarding
incidences that they consider either dishonest or immoral. They
have realized that by continuing to ignore a specific
situation, their passiveness or apathy may directly cause harm
to others usually financially and even sometimes
physically.

The majority of the prominent whistleblowing cases have been
attached to the business or political sectors, however if there
were statistics available, they would undoubtedly show that
this phenomenon first began to gain its impetus where concerned
families, neighbors or friends began to notice something amiss
in relationships within a family. Signs of physical abuse on a
family, usually among women or children were once set aside as
no one else’s business. Today, and rightly so, these kinds of
situations would result in an anonymous phone call to the local
authorities who would investigate the situation and, if deemed
necessary, they would intervene to protect the parties at
risk.

In the private sector the issue of whistleblowing is not
very clear cut. The reason being is that the subject is never
as clear cut and in many cases the whistleblower has had to
suffer considerable abuse and pressure to do what they believe
is right. A typical example is an employee of a private company
who observes one of his colleagues in a position of power,
abusing their position for personal gain. The well-meaning
employee has basically two choices; look the other way or find
someone in a position of responsibility within the company to
discuss the matter confidentially. The whistleblower may not
necessarily receive the red carpet treatment and again
the reasons are sometimes sensitive to an extreme. They may be
reporting a situation to someone who is already aware of it, is
a part of it or passively condones it. The person of authority
who the whistleblower approaches may be offended that the
company he or she works for or even owns, has a dishonest
and/or immoral employee. They may be inclined to “sweep the
matter under the carpet” and instead of trying to solve the
problem by removing the corrupt employee, the company dismisses
the whistleblower, as nobody really likes the person who brings
the bad news. In this case the whistleblower does enjoy a level
of protection, and can sue the employers for unfair dismissal.
However this can be a long drawn out affair.

It is in the world of corporate business and politics that
whistleblowing has become more recognized, and some of the more
controversial cases have sprung to light. One of the most
prominent cases in history and the most famous whistleblower
till now was William Felt also known as Deep Throat from the
early nineteen seventies who was directly responsible in
causing President Richard Nixon’s resignation as a result of
the Watergate scandal.

There have been many other examples of whistleblowing and
with the introduction of the False Claims act of 1986 has
caused many people to come forward to report financial or
sexual improprieties carried out by people of considerable
power. The whistleblowers know that under this Act they are
entitled to the protection of the US Government, and if their
claims are proved to be correct, their public spirited acts
will help to stem the abuse of privilege.

An agency that works for Congress and the American people,
the role of the Government Accountability office is to study
the programs and expenditures of the federal government as a
form of ombudsman.

Also commonly known as the investigative arm of Congress or
the congressional watchdog, the Government Accountability
office is as independent and nonpartisan body, which studies
how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

The Government Accountability office advises Congress and
the heads of executive agencies (such as Environmental
Protection Agency, EPA, Department of Defense, DOD, and Health
and Human Services, HHS) on methods to improve government
offices and make them more effective and responsive. Government
Accountability office’s role is also to evaluate the worth of
federal programs, audit federal expenditures, and if necessary
to issue legal opinions.

The Government Accountability office does not only report
its findings to Congress, it also recommends actions to save
money. Its actions leads to the implementation of laws and acts
designed to identify problems and improve government
operations. There interventions in government fiscal policies
have been known to save billions of federal dollars every
year.

One of their legislations, which have proved especially
effective, is the False Claims Act which has led to the
evolution of the Whistleblower Act, introduced in 2001. This
legislation is possibly the single most efficient law in the
United States in reducing federal fraud. Simple but highly
efficient, it allows any federal employee who discovers fraud
against the federal government to make a report of it through
the specialized procedures of the law. As an incentive, the
federal government allows the whistleblower to claim a generous
share in the proceeds if they are able to collect from the
party who committed the fraud.

This law has two sections that are of high relevance to
whistleblowers. The first being that the whistleblower may be
to entitled to obtain a large financial award and the second
section of the false claim act allows a provision for
anti-retaliation. This provision prohibits harassment or
discharge of a whistleblower that has made a disclosure on
suspicious activities, even if proved to be unfounded.

Every year, thousands of Americans witness wrongdoing on the
job. What they witness may jeopardize the health, safety or
lives of others. This legislation introduced and fostered by
the Government Accountability office has gone a long way to
curtailing these dubious activities and saving billions along
the way.

Corporate law has many sides to it. Basically the company’s
officers have a responsibility to protect the company’s assets
and manage them to the best of their ability and generate
profits that are at least commensurate the amount of money that
has been invested in the company if not considerably more.
Charged with this redoubtable task, the corporate entity will
go about its business, reviewing its existing markets,
searching for new ones, revitalizing its product range,
reshaping its corporate image, reducing its overheads,
increasing its efficiency, all with the aim to delivering the
company’s share holders with the only thing that brings a
genuine smile to their faces: a healthy profit.

However while all this is going, a silent killer may be
eating away at their profits, and that is fraud or theft or
whatever you care to call it. It may seem innocent or even
petty, but if carried out on a large enough scale can knock a
fairly reasonable hole in a company’s profits.

Large corporations can be fairly faceless organisations and
tend to look at their employees as units or on costs and less
as human beings. However along the way, someone somewhere began
to realize that by encouraging employees to become
whistleblowers.

Company managers have adopted the idea that there is no
better ways to sniff out and stop fraudulent practices, than
reaching out to the grass roots of their organisation than by
encouraging their employees to weed out the bad habits of the
co-workers no matter how petty it may seem. They are sending
out the message loud and clear “If you know of something
illegal going on in the department where you work, you can
enjoy full protection from any negative consequences if you
blow the whistle on improper practices.”

This new way of corporate thinking was spurred on by the
passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in year 2002 as a response to
a virtual epidemic of corporate scandals related to accounting.
The financial markets were so shaken up and this act was
specifically designed to implement tougher standards on
financial reporting. With its implementation, congress began to
enforce a series of the most extensive protection for
whistleblowers, particularly in publicly traded companies who
reported even the most seemingly insignificant of
violations.

Violations that could primarily be ascribed to any form of
financial misconduct, fraud, securities violations no matter
the level of its severity.

The False Claims Act is possibly the single most efficient
whistleblower law in the United States. It allows any
individual who comes across a fraud on the federal government
to make a report of it through the specialized procedures of
the law. If the government is able to collect from a company or
contractor who commits fraud, the law even allows the
whistleblower to have a share in the funds recovered as a
result of their actions.