WhistleBlower Watch

Under recently instigated U.S. legislation, whistleblowers
are afforded levels of protection that are unprecedented. The
reasons for this increased protection are written no where, but
can be very easily understood. Federal bodies have come under
increasing attack for their inability to curtail fraudulent
acts that have become a matter of course in federal
departments. While they may be very hard to pin down as theft,
they are acts that are improper and can amount to serious abuse
of privilege. They can fall into fiscal acts of petty theft and
misuse of funds and property that cost the government billions
a year. Another increasingly problematic situation is sexual
harassment in the workplace, which causes tremendous disharmony
and can lead to lawsuits which are both time consuming and
expensive.

Anyone who takes up the gauntlet of reporting any form or
illegal or immoral acts is welcomed with open arms these days
by the federal authorities, anxious to curtail significantly
these acts. At one time, a whistleblower might have been
regarded with suspicion and a certain level of contempt,
nowadays the government has learned the hard way to recognize
and appreciate any warning sign and act accordingly and without
further ado.

Realizing that the way to induce people to blow the whistle
on their employers and co-workers is to remove the threat of
possible retaliation these public spirited employees may expect
from for reporting illegal acts. These new laws clearly define
the fact that an employer cannot act to the detriment of any
employee in any way, either by discharging, demoting,
suspending or publicly harassing the whistleblower. In the
event that the employer or any of his workers do attempt any
form of retaliation, the legislation introduced will allow the
whistle blower to file charges and may be entitled to sue the
company who he works for.

Whistleblower protection can only take place once the
whistleblower has registered an official complaint to the
relevant authorities, such as a government or law-enforcement
agency.

Even if it transpires that the whistleblower’s complaint
turns out to be unfounded, then they are still entitled to
receive the same levels of protection. Collectively, such
provisions are called whistleblower protection laws.

The obvious implications of someone who has made a claim of
impropriety in the work place that has been proved to
unfounded, or that at least no tangible evidence of proof of
wrong doing was uncovered. For the whistleblower to carry on
their employment is such an environment would be difficult.
However many people choose to do so.

In the event that the erstwhile whistleblower can prove
undue harassment or even discharge, then they will be entitled
to the protection under the false claims act. This section for
allows for filing a suit for wrongful discharge and if proven
can be entitled to considerable compensation.

To sum up, there is considerable protection available for
whistleblowing. However it is an honorable privilege that
should be used both sparingly and wisely.

Defrauding the government is one of the most heinous crimes
that anyone can commit. In actual fact, people who perpetrate
such an act are stealing from their fellow countrymen, who work
hard all year round to pay the taxes, and place their trust in
the government agencies charged with dispersing their tax
dollars that they are doing so efficiently and with the minimum
of waste and shrinkage.

Government employees who embezzle money are few and far
between; possibly because very few have access to hard cash.
However anyone in a position of responsibility in certain
departments will find a way to make illegal gains if they are
that way inclined. These forms of fraud are indigent and really
hard to trace. Casual estimates are that around 5% of annual
tax disbursements are being frittered away through passive
forms of fraud.

Some of the most common forms of fraud include: * Allowing
suppliers working in collusion to bill the same service several
times and pocketing the difference; * Allowing suppliers
working in collusion to bill for expensive equipment or
supplies, when lower or even sub standard merchandise is
supplied; * Allowing suppliers working in collusion to bill for
equipment that has not been supplied; * Allowing suppliers
working in collusion to carry out work or deliver goods and
supplies for personal use; * Submitting highly inflated
personal expenses; and * Making expense mistakes and
miscalculations.

These are just a few examples of frauds taking place in
federal entities, and which the government agencies are very
interested in seeing stamped out. The act of whistleblowing,
which at one time might have been frowned in the federal
workplace, is now actively encouraged. The Whistleblower Act of
2001 provides well meaning informants with all the protection
they require, added to the possibility that the whistleblower
may receive a considerable reward based on moneys recovered if
the allegations made prove to be founded.

The new law means that cases are now easier for employees or
informants to file. If a federal employee unearths cases of
fraud in the department that they are working in, or in fact
through the entire organisation, they should immediately
investigate the implications of preparing a report, preferably
under legal advice. There are many law firms who have
established departments specifically to handle such claims, and
will accompany and guide the whistleblower through the long and
often complicated procedure, and help them to claim the reward
for arriving at a successful conclusion.

Since these laws began to come into effect way back in 1986
the federal government has recovered over $2 billion as a
result of actions instigated by whistleblowers. As a result,
around $340 million dollars have been distributed to successful
claimants to date.

More and more government employees who have gained knowledge
of their employer or a colleague that is engaged in defrauding
the government, they can file a lawsuit, assisting the
government in recovering the funds they deserve, and recovering
compensation for bringing the lawsuit.

Abuse of privilege or trust is a crime. Make no mistake
about that. It permeates too many aspects of our society and
people who take a stand to stop, do not always get the support
or respect that they deserve. A corrupt society, in any format
that it takes, is an unhealthy society and will eventually
fail. People with work ethics will see something fundamentally
wrong, are at long last, receiving the protection that they
deserve – and not before time.

Theft in the workplace, either physical form or passive, one
digs into a company’s profits and weakens its financial
position until, if left unattended, can even put it out of
business. This could result in many innocent family
breadwinners loosing their jobs. Sometimes a new employee can
start a new job in a company, and after a short while they will
begin to discover that corruption in their department is rife.
The corruption may not need to be quantified in actual theft,
but in chronic laziness, inefficiency even lack of regard for
the company’s equipment, vehicles or facilities. This is a form
of theft, and the new employee should have the opportunity to
report the situation to the management of the company without
any fear of retaliation or recourse.

Co-workers, who have turned the other cheek, will either
praise or condemn a whistleblower for their actions. Maybe they
are incapable of recognizing that by their passiveness or
apathy they have allowed a situation that bites the hand that
feeds them to continue. The people who openly criticize
whistleblowers are the ones who stand to be most affected by
his or her brave action and no matter how much they try to
justify themselves will be in a sticky position for the future,
until they tighten up their act. Or change their workplace.

To protect the good people who are prepared to stand up and
be counted, legislation came into effect in 1986. Known as the
Whistle Blower Protection Act, the legislation includes an
anti-retaliation protection clause to the previously issued
False Claims Act. The act clearly defines a whistleblower as a
person, who makes a disclosure to the public or to those in
power, of mismanagement, dishonesty, illegality, or some other
wrongdoing in a government agency or private enterprise.
Protecting such employees from being expelled, demoted,
suspended, threatened or hassled in any form; the Whistleblower
Protection Law lays out the terms and conditions for future
employment under the commendable and legal act carried out by
the whistleblowing employee.

In order for the whistleblower to be protected from employer
retaliation, they must have reported their suspicions of
desecration of a federal law.

Some sort of constitutional or common whistleblower or
anti-retaliation laws exists in most U.S. States. However in
order to claim protection, it is advisable for the
whistleblower to engage the services of a suitable lawyer to
provide them with any legal assistance or advice they may
require.

Large publicly traded corporations have an obligation to
their share holders to conduct their affairs properly, not to
cut corners and to provide profits but in a fair and honest
manner. There have been cases over the years that the hunger to
produce profits has led to major corners to be cut and
eventually laws being broken, in some case causing people to
lose their life and countless others to have their health
permanently damaged.

One of the most famous corporate whistleblowers was Dr.
Jeffrey Wigand who revealed to the investigative press that all
the major United States based tobacco companies and cigarette
companies were very well aware that cigarette smoking was
addictive and in fact they added further carcinogenic
ingredients to add to their addictive characteristics. The
effects of this case was so well know and went a long way to
add legitimacy to whistle blowing, even though Dr. Wigand was
subjected to strong pressure from the cigarette manufacturers,
including being sacked from his job, ostracized from the
tobacco industry, and he became a victim of a public campaign
to besmirch his good name. Such was the drama of the situation
that a film was made of Dr. Wigand’s battle with the tobacco
companies, starring Oscar winning actors Russell Crowe and Al
Pacino. The film was a major box office success and was
probably the first time that the general public were exposed to
the reality of corporate whistleblowing and how a braze and
strong individual discovered the courage and fortitude to stand
up and speak out against something that he knew to be innately
incorrect.

Another major corporate scandal which was exposed through
whistle blowing was the Enron accounting fraud scandal. Enron
was formed to act in the energy trading industry and in a very
short time succeeded in becoming one of the largest companies
in the World, with turnovers running into billions of
dollars.

However the company had in actual fact expanded too quickly
and was severely lacking in cash resources. In order to keep
themselves afloat the company’s accountants, connived with one
of the largest and most respected global accountancy practices,
Arthur Andersen, to blow the company’s profits out of all
proportion, to allow them to show a positive cash flow.
Gradually one or two key staff members began to feel
uncomfortable about the situation. Eventually someone, who
remains anonymous to this day, reported the company’s illegal
accountancy practices to the relevant authorities. The result
investigation saw the company being forced to cease operations
immediately.

As their huge losses came to light, the company had no
option but to file for bankruptcy and their shareholders took a
very severe beating. Although people lost vast personal
fortunes, and Arthur Anderson went down with Enron, the scant
compensation that the shareholders received was to see most of
the top management of Enron sentenced to long prison terms.

Whoever the Enron whistleblower was we may never know, it is
possible that he or she is now also serving a prison term for
being involved in the fraud, and who decided, sadly too late,
to blow the whistle on the murky dealings of the company.

Good thing there is a law against whistleblower retaliation
that protects whistleblowers from injustice. The whistleblower
has an unpleasant task of speaking when nobody has the guts to.
They are courageous enough to right a wrong even if others have
turned a blind eye. What happens after they speak up is so
unpleasant and stressful that they need all the help that they
could get.

There are a number of laws that protect the workers from
whistleblower retaliation for bringing out into the open
employers, colleagues and people who are in the position of
authority on dangerous conditions in the place of business,
problems in the environment, and other violations concerning
fraud and other related activities. Whistleblowers should not
be relocated, terminated, demoted or punished any other way
because the law states that the whistleblowers should be
protected.

Just like the witness protection program, whistleblowers
have protection rights and these rights are constructed in a
way to encourage more people to report, testify and speak out
about employers without fear of being retaliated upon. A
whistleblower can file a private lawsuit against his employers
in the court of law especially if he was retaliated against. A
person should never hesitate to get in touch with a lawyer as
he should seek to get help immediatel

Whistle blowing does not create trouble, it exposes
wrongdoings.

It is definitely hard to become a whistle blower. But
somebody has to do it. A whistle blower exposes fraud,
corruption, government garbage and law violations. To be able
to know the difference from whistle blowing to creating
mischief, one has to know exactly what whistle blowing
means.

Whistle blowing is when a person reports a violation
probably even a crime to the proper authorities. It can range
from simply refusing to participate in any wrongdoing in the
workplace to leaking evidence to the media.

Every individual should be encouraged to be brave enough to
stand up, tell and expose what they know. It will be hard
especially if the one who is being exposed is powerful. It is
dangerous and downright inconvenient. But the good will always
defeat the evil and there are laws that will protect you from
being harassed to being harmed.

The sad thing about today’s society is we have been
complacent and lax even if the society and the environment have
been wronged. We need more whistle blowers in this world. We
need more people to call attention to any wrongdoing. Actually,
government is not the only place where we need whistle blowers.
Even companies need them too especially if somebody is
committing a fraud. Remember, it may not affect the company now
but it will in the future especially if the wrongdoing is not
stopped.

The basic purpose of the Whistleblowers Protection Act is to
safeguard the interests and rights of employees of federal,
corporate or private entities who have seen fit to blow the
whistle on their colleagues who, in their opinion and backed up
by verifiable evidence, have committed some form of fraudulent
activity.

Unlike its predecessor the False Claims Act, the
Whistleblower Federal Law, allows the employee known as
whistleblower to file a lawsuit in a federal court.

The law, in one of its more pertinent forms, protects
employees of publicly-traded corporations from retaliation for
reporting alleged violations of any of the rules or regulations
regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as
any provision relating to fraud against shareholders under
federal law. Not only does this landmark act make any form of
retaliation against the whistleblower a criminal act, it in
effect demands that publicly-traded corporations create a
clearly defined set of procedures to enable internal whistle
blowing.

Certain sets of requirements need to be followed before the
whistleblower can take action under the act, and this is a
singular precondition on which a person is entitled to claim
protection and compensation. First and foremost, the
complainant must be direct employee of the entity, and not a
contractor or employee of the contractor, manpower or service
company. Also, the act of reporting the offence must have been
carried out in good faith without any form of personal malice
and intent to gain favor.

In addition, the law in this case clearly states that a
state or local governmental body may not suspend or cease to
employ a public employee who has issued a complaint regarding
violations of the law to an appropriate law enforcement
authority. This is done on the condition that the relevant
authorities have deemed that the whistleblower has made the
complaint in good faith and in the best interests of the US.
Government. Such a public employee who consequently becomes a
target of retaliation or discrimination falls into that
category of the law’s requirements. If the mediators in the
case feel that they have exhausted all appeals, then the
whistleblower is free to file suit against the relevant state
or local governmental body seeking damages and/or
reinstatement, compensation for salaries not paid, all costs
incurred as well as legal fees.

Large companies and organisations are far from naive. They
are well aware of the fact that frauds of all types can be
going on in their company, and can be covered up for a long
time. They also know that they will always invariably be
uncovered and the proponents of the fraud be brought to justice
and even sent to prison.

What these companies can never be totally sure of is whether
they can return the money or the stock that has been stolen
from them. In many cases, difficult though it may be to
believe, companies have been forced into insolvency due to
theft or misuse of their funds. A classic example of where an
informant in the right place at the right time might have saved
the total loss of a company’s assets and disgrace is the famous
story of the U.K’s. longest established Merchant Bank, Barings
Bank’s Singapore Branch: A rogue trader began to chase losses
on money futures, and drove the bank into liquidation with
losses of one billion pounds. A lot of money that had could
have been saved with one phone call.

This is an example of a pretty extreme case; however every
day similar scenarios are being played out in companies all
over the world. Management have long ago realized that this a
symptom of the materialistic times that we live in. People, who
have sacrificed their moral standards for a fast financial
killing, have realized that the trick is not to get caught, and
manage to cover their tracks very successfully. Systems of
checks and balances are in place, however, at higher management
levels it is very difficult to batten down the fraud hatches
completely. This is why the use of a fraud hotline, easily
accessible and entirely confidential has become a major weapon
in management’s battle to reduce the damages that fraud or
mismanagement can cause to a company’s profit margins and
weaken their financial position considerably.

They realize that middle management and co-workers can
pickup on cases, not only of actual theft, but also concealing
of costly mistakes that can be equally damaging.

This is the reason why more and more companies have
established an anonymous fraud hotline as part of their
whistleblower protection program.

When a government employees comes across something that
appears not to be above board, even the simplest thing, in the
Government department where they are employed. Then they have a
legal as well as moral obligation not to ignore the matter, and
instead to report it. Known as “blowing the whistle”, it is not
an easy thing to do, as, in many cases, the people that are
under suspicion of defrauding the government, may hold a higher
position than the informant and have worked in the same
department and possibly held the same position of trust for
many years.

The person under suspicion may be well liked and loved by
their colleagues and the dubious acts taking place may have
been going on for years. However, through misplaced loyalty, no
one was prepared to put a stop to the situation. Possibly they
were unaware that there are now laws that have been re-enacted
to encourage whistle blowing as well as specialist attorneys
who are both willing and capable of handling cases of this
nature and accompanying plaintiffs who have decided to take the
brave step and report their colleague or colleagues for
misappropriation of government funds and services.

These attorneys have become specialists in Qui
tam, a legal term describing whistle blower claims.
Under the terms of this law, government employees as well as
those employed by corporations whose shares are traded on the
stock market, no longer have to fear loss of employment if they
are concerned about the activities of their employers and
colleagues.

If an employee has knowledge of any kind of fraud, they can
file a personal lawsuit, through a whistleblower attorney. If
they succeed in assisting the government in recovering any of
the funds misappropriated, they are entitled to receive a
generous percentage of funds recovered as a reward for their
honesty and public spiritedness.

Under recent legislation, Qui tam claims are now much more
straightforward than they once were. However, there are
specific procedures to be followed, that only and experienced
whistleblower attorney will be able to carry through.

Most of these attorneys will be prepared to take on the
case, which can be fairly drawn out, for a percentage of the
reward money. The other payment model is referred to as “fee
for service”. In this situation, you are responsible for paying
the legal fees irrespective of the outcome of your case. The
major disadvantage of this model is that there is no limit on
your potential legal costs and you could end up out of pocket
by many thousands of dollars. On the other hand, if you win -
all the payout is yours to keep!

The laws that are based on the Whistleblower Protection Act
are designed to safeguard the interest of informants employed
by the Federal government. Whistleblowers are well meaning
people who sense or witness an impropriety in the work place
and take it upon themselves to report the matter to the
relevant authorities. The offence in question can fall into a
number of categories, either outright theft of money and
property, receiving goods and services in exchange for favors,
laziness, inefficiency and even physical or sexual
harassment.

Increasingly more, government authorities, under increasing
scrutiny, are encouraging their employees to blow the whistle
on any of these unacceptable practices, and provide them with
all the protection they require under the terms of the act
which is imposed by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Apart from the principal Whistleblower Protection Act, there
is also a long list of federal laws protecting workers from
retribution or any other form of unlawful treatment. These sub
sections generally relate to state and local laws.

Any government employee considering reporting an offence,
should seek legal advice in their own state, as the
circumstances very according to which state the complaint is
made in and pertains to. For these reasons, whistleblowers are
strongly recommended to carry out as much initial research as
possible before consulting and hiring an experienced labor
attorney, accustomed to representing plaintiffs. Before
reaching the whistleblowing stage, an experienced Qui tam
attorney, and a legal term describing whistle blower claim
should advise their clients to gather and understand the
implications of their act and be fully aware of the terms and
conditions regarding the protection provided by a whistle
blower law or a like provision in another law.

Any federal agency is deemed to have violated the
Whistleblower Protection Act if they take any form of personnel
action or discrimination against any employee as a result of
any disclosure of information given by the employee that they
reasonably believe evidences a violation of a law, rule or
regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; an abuse
of authority; or a substantial and specific danger to public
health or safety.

Depending upon the circumstances of the case
discrimination can include:* Dismissal; * Suspension;
* Demotion; * Denial of overtime; * Denial of merited
promotion; * Unjustified disciplinary action; * Denial of
benefits; * Failure to hire or rehire; * Intimidation; *
Reassignment affecting prospects for promotion; and * Reducing
hourly rate or hours that can be worked.

Any informant who feels that they are being discriminated
against is entitled to the full protection of the law. If the
claims of discrimination are found to be true, the plaintiff
will be entitled to receive substantial compensation.