When you hear the term “whistleblower,” what enters your mind? A champion of public interest and organizational accountability? A troublemaker pursuing personal fame and glory?
Webster defines whistleblower” as “one who reveals something covert or who informs against another.” No matter what your perception, whistleblowing cases have affected all areas of business, manufacturing and government.
Most whistleblowing cases are lowprofile and do not receive much media attention, which is why limited information is available on the actual number of cases in the U.S. However, the more public, high profile cases have shed light on horrifying conditions inside a pig-slaughtering house in 1906, revealed deceptive marketing practices within the pharmaceutical industry in 2006 and, most recently with Edward Snowden’s leak, detailing a mass surveillance program conducted by the NSA.
Early on, whistleblowers faced detrimental consequences for their actions, ranging from job loss and pay cuts to physical harassment by other employees and management. Today, there is a patchwork of laws written to protect those who inform on unethical and illegal activities. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a program in place called the Whistleblower Protection Program. It encompasses more than twenty statutes protecting employees who report workplace violations. There is a plethora of websites giving advice and guidance on how to go about exposing perceived injustice. There is even a handbook available for purchase, which gives step- by-step guidance on “doing what’s right and protecting yourself,” as well as listings of whistleblowing attorneys, offering free and confidential consultations.
Most times, a common thread runs through the reasoning behind exposing a situation – legitimate practice concern. For example, in 2002, Cynthia Cooper exposed rampant financial fraud within the WorldCom Corporation. She discovered accounting fraud amounting to $3. 8 billion , one of the largest incidents at that time in U.S. history. Another case entails a concern for health conditions/practices. In 1966, Peter Buxtun, an epidemiologist and social worker, discovered a room full of African Americans being infected with syphilis during the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, an experiment that took place between 1932 and 1972. Major changes followed in U.S. law and regulatory mandates, resulting in clinical studies requiring fully-informed subjects’ consent, advance diagnosis disclosure and accurate study outcome reporting. As noble as whistleblowing can be, it has a flip side. How about a disgruntled employee who perceives injustices that result in fallacious whistleblowing incidences, which in turn take up valuable court resources, time and money? What about heavyweight cases that put U.S. national security in jeopardy? Should those people be protected under the Whistleblower Protection Laws? Should detrimental actions not result in equally detrimental consequences?
Needless to say, whistleblowers provide meat for big, juicy stories written by journalists nationwide. They help shape big stories on slow days. They are the sources who always have the most intriguing tidbits of information and are always appreciated by news programs and papers alike.
As far as corporate America is concerned, whistleblowers are petulant mosquitoes buzzing about, anticipating their next opportunity to attack. Depending on who you ask, they can either suck blood or be squashed. They can either be dubbed as heroes or be criticized as villains. They can either stand out as monuments known for their courageous efforts to thwart vile practices or dissipate like miniscule ants as time moves on, whistling Dixie.
Kevin Enners
