BLOWING THE WHISTLE

GROUP 5
WHAT IS WHISTLE-
BLOWING?

Whistleblowing is the term used when

a person passes on information
concerning wrongdoing, such as
corruption, sexual harassment. The
person is usually closely associated with
the organization, often an employee,
but also sometimes a supplier or a
customer.
 TYPES OF
Whistle-blowing
INTERNAL WHISTLE-
BLOWING

Happens when the

employee reports company
misconduct to another
person within the
organization.
EXTERNAL WHISTLE-
BLOWING

Is the practice of reporting a

business' misconduct or
corruption to an outside
source, such as the police, a
legal firm, or the media.
 ETHICS IN
Whistle-blowing
ETHICS OF WHISTLE-BLOWING

Whistle-blowers may be applauded as

models of honor and integrity discovery of
illegal activities before the situation is
revealed in the media could potentially save
organizations millions of dollars discovery of
potential harm to consumers offers
imeasurable benefit to the general public
ETHICS OF WHISTLE-BLOWING

In contrast to perceptions of whistle-blowers

being brave and praiseworthy, they are
considered to: Be motivated by money or
personal egos have breached the trust and
loyalty they owe to their employers
WHEN IS WHISTLE-
BLOWING
Ethical?
ETHICAL WHISTLE-BLOWING MUST
MEET 5 CONDITIONS:

1.) When a company, through a product

or decision, will cause serious and
considerable harm to the public (as
consumers or bystanders), or break
existing laws, the employee should
report the organization.
ETHICAL WHISTLE-BLOWING MUST
MEET 5 CONDITIONS:

2.) When the employee identifies a

serious threat of harm, he or she should
report it and state his or her moral
concern.
ETHICAL WHISTLE-BLOWING MUST
MEET 5 CONDITIONS:

3.) When the employee's immediate

supervisor does not act, the employee
should exhaust the internal procedures
and chain of command to the board of
directors.
ETHICAL WHISTLE-BLOWING MUST
MEET 5 CONDITIONS:

4.) The employee must have

documented evidence that is convincing
to a reasonable, impartial observer that
his or her view of the situation is
accurate, and the evidence that the
firm's practice, product or policy
seriously threatens and put in danger
the public or product user.
ETHICAL WHISTLE-BLOWING MUST
MEET 5 CONDITIONS:

5.) The employee must have valid

reasons to believe that revealing the
wrongdoing to the public will result in
the changes necessary to remedy the
situation.
WHEN IS WHISTLE-
BLOWING
Unethical?
WHISTLE-BLOWING MUST BE
QUESTIONED IF:
Motivation is the opportunity for
financial gain or media attention
Employee is carrying out a vendetta
against the company
Key point: better be very sure of your
facts and your evidence better be
irrefutable before blowing the whistle.
 DUTY TO
Respond
 Employees are becoming increasingly
willing to respond to any questionable
behavior they observe in the workplace
responding to whistle-blowers means
addressing their concerns and not firing
them prior to 2002, legal protection for
whistle-blowers existed only through
legislation that did not offer any
safeguards against retaliation aimed at
them
The Whistleblower Protection Act
Addressed the issue of retaliation against
federal employees
Imposed specific performance deadlines
in processing complaints
Guaranteed anonymity of the whistle-
blower
Required prompt payment of any portion
of the settlement entitled to the whistle-
blower
Duty to Respond
Mechanism that employers need to put
in place :

1. A well-defined process to document how

such complaints are handled
2. an employee hotline to file such
complaints
3. A prompt and thorough investigation of
all complaints
4. A detailed report of all investigations.

Addressing the Needs of

Whistle-Blowers
Well-defined process to document how
whistle-blower complaints are handled
Whistle-blower hotline: Telephone line
by which employees can leave
messages to alert a company to
suspected misconduct without revealing
their identity prompt and thorough
investigation of all complaints detailed
report of all investigations
While the importance of whistleblowing
is evident, adopting a whistleblower
policy is not something a business
should rush into recklessly; a poor
policy can cause just as much headache
for a business as no policy at all. For
example, your policy should address
points including:
1. The types of issues that should be
reported. Give examples, such as
accounting fraud, contract fixing,
corrupt payments, racial discrimination,
sexual harassment, office bullying, theft
of company data, and so forth — and
always include a disclaimer of “and
anything else that you believe to be
misconduct.”
2. Employees’ duty to report
misconduct. In most cases, you’ll want
to specify that employees must report
troubling misconduct they see, even if
they are not direct victims of the
behavior at issue.
3. The option to report anonymously.
By providing an anonymous reporting
channel, you give employees somehow
implicated in misconduct but wanting
to come clean a path to do that.
4. Protection from retaliation. Either as
part of your general whistleblower
policy, or as a company policy on
workplace civility, stress that retaliating
against coworkers for submitting a
whistleblower report is strictly
prohibited, and can result in disciplinary
action including termination
Whistle Blowing as a
Last Resort
There is a certain way you go about handing a
situation that you do not agree with. You do not
have to put your career and financial stability in
risk just to be honorable and courageous by
reporting it, and speaking out about it. The
company should have in place a person or a
department that deals with situations exactly like
these ones. Becoming a whistle blower and taking
your story public should be your absolute last
resort.
You should be able to have a department to
talk to about the concern you have. At this
point it is in the hands of that person or
department to do with the complaint as they
see fit. If the complaint isn’t taken seriously
or otherwise ignored, it is then that you take
your story public.
Schelosky Navarro

Krisha Gail J. Mainit

Sofia Lloren

Sean Mark Lumang

Harold Gelecaña