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Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whistleblowers can use a variety of internal or external channels to communicate information or allegations. Over 83% of whistleblowers report internally to a supervisor, human resources, compliance, or a neutral third party within the company, hoping that the company will address and correct the issues. A whistleblower can also bring allegations to light by communicating with external entities, such as the media, government, or law enforcement.[1] Some countries legislate as to what constitutes a protected disclosure, and the permissible methods of presenting a disclosure. Whistleblowing can occur in the private sector or the public sector.

"Whistleblower" redirects here. For other uses, see Whistleblower (disambiguation).

Whistleblowers often face retaliation for their disclosure, including termination of employment. Several other actions may also be considered retaliatory, including unreasonable increase in workloads, reduction of hours, preventing task completion, mobbing or bullying.[2] Laws in many countries attempt to provide protection for whistleblowers and regulate whistleblowing activities. These laws tend to adopt different approaches to public and private sector whistleblowing.


Whistleblowers do not always achieve their aims; for their claims to be credible and successful, they must have compelling evidence so that the government or regulating body can investigate them and hold corrupt companies and/or government agencies to account.[3] To succeed, they must also persist in their efforts over what can often be years, in the face of extensive, coordinated and prolonged efforts that institutions can deploy to silence, discredit, isolate, and erode their financial and mental wellbeing.


Whistleblowers have been likened to ‘Prophets at work’,[4] but many lose their jobs, are victims of campaigns to discredit and isolate them, suffer financial and mental pressures, and some lose their lives (such as John Barnett (whistleblower) who died on the day he was due to give deposition testimony as a whistleblower against Boeing, and David Kelly (weapons expert) who was found dead two days after the UK parliamentary Intelligence and Security and Foreign Affairs select committees publicized that he would be called about the dubious claims used to convince the UK Parliament to vote to invade Iraq).

Overview[edit]

Origin of term[edit]

U.S. civic activist Ralph Nader is said to have coined the phrase in the early 1970s[5] in order to avoid the negative connotations found in other words such as "informer" and "snitch".[6] However, the origins of the word date back to the 19th century.


The word is linked to the use of a whistle to alert the public or a crowd about such problems as the commission of a crime or the breaking of rules during a game. The phrase whistle blower attached itself to law enforcement officials in the 19th century because they used a whistle to alert the public or fellow police.[7] Sports referees, who use a whistle to indicate an illegal or foul play, also were called whistle blowers.[8][9]


An 1883 story in Wisconsin's Janesville Gazette called a policeman who used his whistle to alert citizens about a riot a whistle blower, without the hyphen. By the year 1963, the phrase had become a hyphenated word, whistle-blower. The word began to be used by journalists in the 1960s for people who revealed wrongdoing, such as Nader. It eventually evolved into the compound word whistleblower.[7]

The definition of whistleblowing in force under the "Sapin 2 Law" – which includes whistleblowing not based on work - has been maintained.

The protection applies to any natural person who facilitates or assists whistleblowers – as required in the directive – but also to entities such as NGOs () or trade unions, which act as a facilitator. They are offered the same level of protection.

Non-governmental organizations

Military personnel will now be afforded the same level of protection as other civil servants, so long as they do not disclose information that may harm national security.

The law provides that whistleblowers may be granted financial assistance, when subjected to a suit, by making an application to a judge, who has the power to force the suing organization – the employer, for instance - to cover their legal fees and if their financial situation has deteriorated, their living expenses.

The law provides that whistleblowers shall not incur criminal liability in respect to the acquisition of, or access to, the information that is reported or publicly disclosed. They cannot be sentenced for any offenses committed in order to gather proof or information as long as they obtained it in a lawful manner.

The law strengthens existing sanctions against those who retaliate against whistleblowers: The criminal sanctions applicable to persons retaliating against whistleblowers can go up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of €45,000. The judges may impose €60,000 fines on companies taking a SLAPP action against a whistleblower.

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Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power

Arnold, Jason Ross (2019). . Rowman & Littlefield.

Whistleblowers, Leakers, and Their Networks: From Snowden to Samizdat

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Bazzichelli, Tatiana, ed. (2021). Whistleblowing for Change. Exposing Systems of Power and Injustice. transcript Verlag.  978-3-8376-5793-7. (Open Access)

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Ceva, Emanuela and Bocchiola, Michele (2018). .

Is Whistleblowing a duty?, Cambridge: Polity Press

Quentin Whistleblowers, Sydney, ABC Books, 1997. ISBN 0-7333-0504-0 [See especially pp. 199–212: 'The Courage of the Whistleblowers']

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Frais, A "Whistleblowing heroes – boon or burden?", Bulletin of Medical Ethics, 2001 Aug:(170):13–19.

Garrett, Allison, "Auditor Whistle Blowing: The Financial Fraud Detection and Disclosure Act," 17 Legis. J. 91 (1993).

Seton Hall

Hesch, Joel (2009). Whistleblowing: A guide to government reward programs. Goshen Press.  978-0-9772602-0-1.

ISBN

Hunt, Geoffrey (2006). "The Principle of Complementarity: Freedom of Information, Public Accountability and Whistleblowing in". Chapman, R & Hunt, M (eds) Freedom of Information: Perspectives on Open Government in a Theoretical and Practical Context. , Aldershot, UK.

Ashgate Publishing

Hunt, Geoffrey (2000). "Whistleblowing, Accountability & Ethical Accounting". . 6 (3): 115–16. doi:10.1177/135626220000600306. S2CID 79063742.

Clinical Risk

Hunt, Geoffrey (1998). 'Whistleblowing', commissioned entry for Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, (8,000 words). Academic Press, California, USA.

Hunt, Geoffrey, ed. (1998). Whistleblowing in the Social Services: Public Accountability & Professional Practice. Arnold.

Hunt, G, ed. (1995). Whistleblowing in the Health Service: Accountability, Law & Professional Practice. Arnold.

Johnson, Roberta Ann (2002). . L. Reinner Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58826-114-4.

Whistleblowing: When It Works—And Why

Kohn, Stephen M (2000). Concepts and Procedures in Whistleblower Law. . ISBN 978-1-56720-354-7.

Quorum Books

; Kohn, Michael D; Colapinto, David K. (2004). Whistleblower Law A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-98127-3.

Kohn, Stephen M

Lauretano, Major Daniel A., "The Military Whistleblower Protection Act and the Military Mental Health Protection Act", Army Law, (Oct) 1998.

Lechner, Jay P. & Paul M. Sisco, 80 Florida B. J. 85 (June 2006)

"Sarbanes-Oxley Criminal Whistleblower Provisions & the Workplace: More Than Just Securities Fraud"

Lipman, Frederick D. (2012). Whistleblowers: Incentives, Disincentives, and Protection Strategies. . ISBN 978-1-118-09403-7.

John Wiley & Sons

. Justice Ignited: The Dynamics of Backfire, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).

Martin, Brian

Martin, Brian with Wendy Varney. , (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2003).

Nonviolence Speaks: Communicating against Repression

Martin, Brian. Archived 9 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, (London: War Resisters' International, 2001).

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Martin, Brian with Lyn Carson. , (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999).

Random Selection in Politics

Martin, Brian. The Whistleblower's Handbook: How to Be an Effective Resister, (Charlbury, UK: Jon Carpenter; Sydney: Envirobook, 1999). Updated and republished 2013 as , Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing.

Whistleblowing: a practical guide

McCarthy, Robert J. "Blowing in the Wind: Answers for Federal Whistleblowers", 3 184 (2012).

William & Mary Policy Review

Miethe, Terance D (1991). . Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-3549-0.

Whistleblowing at work: tough choices in exposing fraud, waste, and abuse on the job

Rowe, Mary & Bendersky, Corinne, "Workplace Justice, Zero Tolerance and Zero Barriers: Getting People to Come Forward in Conflict Management Systems," in Negotiations and Change, From the Workplace to Society, and Richard Locke (eds), Cornell University Press, 2002

Thomas Kochan

Wilkey, Robert N. Esq., , William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 30, Issue 1 (2003).

"Federal Whistleblower Protection: A Means to Enforcing Maximum Hour Legislation for Medical Residents"

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Archived 4 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Whistleblower – Informant Award

IRS.gov

– Global and Australian Laws: Steven Asnicar, 2019

Whistleblower& Laws Australia

(28 November 2013). "3 ways to blow the whistle" (PDF). Nature Vol 503.

Ed Yong

Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine from Her Majesty's Stationery Office

Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report

National Security Whistleblowers

a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report

Survey of Federal Whistleblower and Anti-Retaliation Laws

at U.S. Department of Labor

Whistleblower Protection Program & information

Canadian legal framework regarding whistleblowing defence

Read v. Canada (Attorney General)

Patients First

Archived 17 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine

Whistleblowers UK

Archived 13 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine

Why be a whistleblower?

Author Eyal Press discusses whistleblowers and heroism on Conversations from Penn State

. Al Jazeera English.

"Digital Dissidents: What it Means to be a Whistleblower"