Whistleblowers

• A whistleblower is a person, usually an

employee, who exposes information or
activity within a private, public, or
government organization that is
deemed illegal, illicit, unsafe, fraud, or
abuse of taxpayer funds.
• The word is linked to the use of a
whistle to alert the public or a crowd
about a bad situation, such as the
committing of a crime or the breaking
of rules during a game.
• To protect whistleblowers from losing
their job or getting mistreated there are
specific laws. Most companies have a
separate policy which clearly states how
to report such an incident.
 Classifications
• Internal vs External Whistleblowing : Most whistleblowers are internal whistleblowers, who
report misconduct on a fellow employee or superior within their company through anonymous
reporting mechanisms often called hotlines. One of the most interesting questions with respect
to internal whistleblowers is why and under what circumstances do people either act on the spot
to stop illegal and otherwise unacceptable behavior or report it. External whistleblowers,
however, report misconduct to outside people or entities. In these cases, depending on the
information's severity and nature, whistleblowers may report the misconduct to lawyers, the
media, law enforcement or watchdog agencies, or other local, state, or federal agencies. In some
cases, external whistleblowing is encouraged by offering monetary reward.
 Classifications
• Private sector vs Public sector whistleblowing : Private sector whistleblowing, though not as high
profile as public sector whistleblowing, is arguably more prevalent and suppressed in society today.
Simply because private corporations usually have stricter regulations that suppress potential
whistleblowers. An example of private sector whistleblowing is when an employee reports to someone
in a higher position such as a manager, or a third party that is isolated from the individual chapter, such
as their lawyer or the police. In the private sector, corporate groups can easily hide wrongdoings by
individual branches. It is not until these wrongdoings bleed into the top officials that corporate
wrongdoings are seen by the public. Situations in which a person may blow the whistle are in cases of
violated laws or company policy, such as sexual harassment or theft. These instances, nonetheless, are
small compared to money laundering or fraud charges on the stock market. Recognizing the public
value of whistleblowing has been increasing over the last 50 years. In the United States, both state and
Federal statutes have been put in place to protect whistleblowers from retaliation. The United States
Supreme Court ruled that public sector whistleblowers are protected under First Amendment rights
from any job retaliation when they raise flags over alleged corruption.[23] Exposing misconduct or
illegal or dishonest activity is a big fear for public employees because they feel they are going against
their government and country. Private sector whistleblowing protection laws were in place long before
ones for the public sector. After many federal whistleblowers were scrutinized in high-profile media
cases, laws were finally introduced to protect government whistleblowers.
Some infamous whistleblowers
There are a lot of famous whistleblowers. Some call these people
heroes, many others call them traitors, but all of these figures became
famous for providing information, sometimes secretly, in an attempt to
expose the people or organization they worked for. A number of them
have even been portrayed in movies.
1. Mark Felt
In the Watergate scandal that toppled the presidency of
Richard Nixon, this FBI figure was the secret informant known
as Deep Throat who helped Washington Post reporters Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Though Deep Throat became a
symbol of shadowy Washington sources dishing out
information in clandestine meetings, his identity was kept
secret until 2005.
2. Frank Serpico
This New York City police officer, later portrayed by Al Pacino
in a 1973 movie, attempted to confront the rampant
corruption within the police department. He left the force
after being shot in the face during a botched drug raid and
later moved out of the country.
3. Karen Silkwood
She was also played in a movie named for her, in this case by
Meryl Streep in 1983. She died mysteriously in 1974 in the
midst of a campaign to challenge Kerr-McGee about the
safety of a nuclear facility.
4. Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden is a former computer intelligence
consultant who leaked highly classified information from the
National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 when he was an
employee and subcontractor for the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA). His disclosures revealed numerous global
surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes
Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of
telecommunication companies and European governments,
and prompted a cultural discussion about national security
and individual privacy.
5. Daniel Ellsberg
The employee of the State Department in 1971 leaked the
Pentagon Papers, a secret account of documents pertaining to
how the United States came to fight the Vietnam War. The
Nixon administration sought the Supreme Court's help in
preventing The New York Times and Washington Post from
publishing the papers but was rejected.
 Legal protection for whistleblowers varies from country to country and
may depend on the country of the original activity, where and how
Legal protection secrets were revealed, and how they eventually became published or
publicized. Over a dozen countries have now adopted comprehensive
for whistleblower protection laws that create mechanisms for reporting
whistleblowers wrongdoing and provide legal protections to whistleblowers. Over 50
countries have adopted more limited protections as part of their anti-
corruption, freedom of information, or employment laws.
 Legal protection for whistleblowers
For example,
• European Union : The European Parliament approved a "Whistleblower Protection Directive"
containing broad free speech protections for whistleblowers in both the public and the private
sectors, including for journalists, in all member states of the European Union. The Directive
prohibits direct or indirect retaliation against employees, current and former, in the public sector
and the private sector. The Directive's protections apply to employees, to volunteers, and to those
who assist them, including to civil society organizations and to journalists who report on their
evidence. It provides equal rights for whistleblowers in the national security sector who challenge
denial or removal of their security clearances. Also, whistleblowers are protected from criminal
prosecution and corporate lawsuits for damages resulting from their whistleblowing, and
provides for psychological support for dealing with harassment stress.
 Legal protection for whistleblowers
• Canada : The Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada (PSIC) provides a safe
and confidential mechanism enabling public servants and the general public to disclose
wrongdoings committed in the public sector. It also protects from reprisal public servants who
have disclosed wrongdoing and those who have cooperated in investigations. The Office's goal is
to enhance public confidence in Canada's federal public institutions and in the integrity of public
servants. Mandated by the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (The Act), PSIC is a
permanent and independent Agent of Parliament. The Act, which came into force on 15 April
2007, applies to most of the federal public sector, approximately 400,000 public servants.
• Australia : There are laws in a number of states. The former NSW Police Commissioner Tony Lauer
summed up official government and police attitudes as: "Nobody in Australia much likes
whistleblowers, particularly in an organization like the police or the government." The former
Australian intelligence officer known as Witness K, who provided evidence of Australia's
controversial spying operation against the government of East Timor in 2004, face the possibility
of jail if convicted. Whistleblowers Australia is an association for those who have exposed
corruption or any form of malpractice, especially if they were then hindered or abused.
 Legal protection for whistleblowers
• India : The Government of India had been considering adopting a whistleblower protection law
for several years. In 2003, the Law Commission of India recommended the adoption of the Public
Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Act, 2002. In August 2010, the Public Interest
Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010 was introduced into the
Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India. The Bill was approved by the cabinet in June
2011. The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010
was renamed as The Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 by the Standing Committee on
Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice. The Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 was
passed by the Lok Sabha on 28 December 2011. and by the Rajyasabha on 21 February 2014. The
Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 has received the Presidential assent on 9 May 2014 and the
same has been subsequently published in the official gazette of the Government of India on 9
May 2014 by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India.
 Legal protection for whistleblowers
• United Kingdom : Whistleblowing in the United Kingdom is protected by the Public Interest
Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA). Amongst other things, under the Act protected disclosures are
permitted even if a non-disclosure agreement has been signed between the employer and the
former or current employee; a consultation on further restricting confidentiality clauses was held
in 2019. The Freedom to Speak Up Review set out 20 principles to bring about improvements to
help whistleblowers in the NHS, including:
-> Culture of raising concerns – to make raising issues a part of normal routine business of a well-led NHS organization.
-> Culture free from bullying – freedom of staff to speak out relies on staff being able to work in a culture which is free from
bullying.
-> Training – every member of staff should receive training in their trust's approach to raising concerns and in receiving and
acting on them.
-> Support – all NHS trusts should ensure there is a dedicated person to whom concerns can be easily reported and without
formality, a "speak up guardian" .
-> Support to find alternative employment in the NHS – where a worker who has raised a concern cannot, as a result,
continue their role, the NHS should help them seek an alternative job.
 Legal protection for whistleblowers
• United States : The first US law adopted specifically to protect whistleblowers was the 1863
United States False Claims Act (revised in 1986), which tried to combat fraud by suppliers of the
United States government during the American Civil War. The Act encourages whistleblowers by
promising them a percentage of the money recovered by the government and by protecting them
from employment retaliation. Another US law that specifically protects whistleblowers is the
Lloyd–La Follette Act of 1912. It guaranteed the right of federal employees to furnish information
to the United States Congress. Investigation of retaliation against whistleblowers under 23 federal
statutes falls under the jurisdiction of Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Program of the
United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). New
whistleblower statutes enacted by Congress, which are to be enforced by the Secretary of Labor,
are generally delegated by a Secretary's Order to OSHA's Directorate of Whistleblower Protection
Program (DWPP).
 Legal protection for whistleblowers
• Other countries : There are comprehensive laws in New Zealand, the Netherlands and South
Africa. A number of other countries have recently adopted comprehensive whistleblower laws
including Ghana, South Korea, and Uganda. They are also being considered in Kenya and Rwanda.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2008 that whistleblowing was protected as freedom
of expression. Nigeria has progressed into formulating the Whistleblowing Policy in 2016.
However, this has not yet been established as law. The Whistle-blower Protection bill is still
pending at the National Assembly. And in February 2017, Nigeria also set up the whistleblowing
policy against corruption and other ills in the country.
 The ethical implications of whistleblowing can be negative as well as positive. Some have
argued that public sector whistleblowing plays an important role in the democratic process by

Ethical resolving principle agent problems. However, sometimes employees may blow the whistle as
an act of revenge. It is believed throughout the professional world that an individual is bound
to secrecy within their work sector. Discussions of whistleblowing and employee loyalty
Implications of usually assume that the concept of loyalty is irrelevant to the issue or, more commonly, that
whistleblowing involves a moral choice that pits the loyalty that an employee owes an
Whistleblowing employer against the employee's responsibility to serve the public interest. Discussions on
whistleblowing generally revolve around three topics: attempts to define whistleblowing more
precisely, debates about whether and when whistleblowing is permissible, and debates about
whether and when one has an obligation to blow the whistle.
 Many whistleblowers have stated that they were motivated to take action to put an end to unethical
practices, after witnessing injustices in their businesses or organizations. A 2009 study found that
whistleblowers are often motivated to take action when they notice a sharp decline in ethical
practices, as opposed to a gradual worsening. There are generally two metrics by which
whistleblowers determine if a practice is unethical. The first metric involves a violation of the
Motivations organization's bylaws or written ethical policies. These violations allow individuals to concretize and
rationalize blowing the whistle. On the other hand, "value-driven" whistleblowers are influenced by
their personal codes of ethics. In these cases, whistleblowers have been criticized for being driven by
personal biases. In addition to ethics, social and organizational pressure are a motivating forces. A
2012 study identified that individuals are more likely to blow the whistle when several others know
about the wrongdoing, because they would otherwise fear consequences for keeping silent.