...Whistleblowers have key characteristics. An individual becomes a whistleblower when they report a person or organization for wrong-doing, misconduct, corruption, unethical or illicit activity. Whistleblowers can expose the information internal to the organization or external to regulators and the media. Whistleblowers are unselfish, courageous and necessary. In many cases, a whistleblower feels the organization is violating the law or endangering the welfare of others. (Halbert, 2012) Blow the whistle1 The cases, U.S. ex rel. Edwards v. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-00220 is one instance of whistleblowing in a publicly traded company. Keith Edwards was awarded $63.9 million for blowing the whistle on JPMorgan Chase & Co’s. He was the current assistant vice president supervising a government insuring unit in 2008 before his termination. He had been working for the company five miserable years when he first sued under the federal False Claims Act. Edwards claimed JPMorgan Chase & Co’s defrauded the government into insuring home loans that didn’t qualify for FHA and VA guarantee. Many of these loans ended in evictions and foreclosures. Edwards reported wrong doing and misconduct that endangered the welfare of stockholders, taxpayers and the government. His actions were justified and had an effect on both his career and JPMorgan Chase and Co’s. Edwards was terminated and mistreated after reporting his beliefs...
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...Debbie Laird Whistleblowers October 25, 2015 Law, Ethics and Corporate Government Whistleblowers The term “whistleblower” is sometimes referred to as snitch, rat, or disgruntled employee. In today’s business world with corruption such as that of Enron, which helped to make whistleblowing a household term, employees who witness corrupt or unethical business practices taking place need to have a channel and they need protection that if they blow the whistle, then they will be protected by the US Government. Being a whistleblower takes courage as whistleblowing is not an easy thing to do. To better understand whistleblowing, this paper attempts to define whistleblowers, the characteristics of whistleblowing and what motivates whistleblowing. This paper also includes the details of a whistleblowing case regarding JC Penney and their whistleblower, Robert Blatchford. A whistleblower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed dishonest, illegal, and unethical or corrupt (Miriam Webster Dictionary). A whistleblower can be described as a person or employee who is unselfishly motivated, who is practical, and who is uninterested in altering their behavior and someone who allow their own attitude to guide them. Sometimes, whistleblowers can be described as revengeful. Many times whistleblowers are very well educated people who hold professional positions in the business world. JC Penney is a national department store chain, based out of Texas, which...
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...Take a look at the “Meet with whistleblowers” link on the main page. There you will find a number of people who have “blown the whistle” on the organization they work for. Through additional research you will find that there have been a number of people who blew the whistle and rightfully so, and perhaps you’ll find others that are questionable. In a 6-8 page paper, research at least two people who blew the whistle and present your findings. Your findings will show one person who did it and came out with a win for him/herself as well as for the good of society. Your other one will show someone who perhaps should have done nothing, or at least show that so far (because there case is not done) they have only hurt themselves and/or their family. Remember this is research, not your opinion. Personal opinions do not count in research papers, just facts. Some things to consider: 1. What is the obligation of an employee to his company versus society? 2. What might be the consequences of whistleblowing? 3. How might you avoid the mistake of an inappropriate allegation? 4. Are there any laws to protect whistleblowers? 5. Who do you go to, to blow the whistle? 6. Depending on the severity of what you’re going to whistle on, do you think your life and/or your families could be in danger? Can you find a documented case on this? 7. There’s a perception in Washington that much more leaking is going on now than during previous administrations. Is leaking a form a whistleblowing...
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.... Ethics-Whistleblowers Laura Dove Bus 670 Instructor Starcher July 18, 2011 Ethics/Whistleblowers In this ever-increasing society, businesses are becoming more competitive to increase the success of the organization. These organizations must ensure their operations adhere to the specific regulatory guidelines set forth by the government. For this reason, organizations place emphasis on proper management and preventive measures to alleviate risks of legal liability. With adequate knowledge active steps can be taken to eliminate risk factors and reduce the affects of any possible risks. Some critics believe that businesses should adhere to an ethical or a socially responsible behavior that is higher than the law. Organizations and or employers tell us that one way to increase compliance with the company’s core ethical values is to convince the staff that their best interest and the firm’s are met by acting ethically (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010). Moreover, if the company’s ethical values are in place, the action to report unlawful behavior should not be as difficult. Subsequently, individuals labeled as whistleblowers in the workplace has a challenging, ethical and or morally, as well as lawful thing to do. The intent of this paper is to give a brief synopsis of ethics, whistleblowers, dilemmas of whistleblowers, legal issues involved with individuals labeled as whistleblowers, to include the government and society (The Occupational...
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...Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley A whistleblower is someone that exposes misconduct or any illegal behavior within an organization or business. These individuals are known to be infamous for their actions. A whistleblower discloses information and behavior that most supervisors and managers do not get to witness personally. Being involved in whistleblowing can cause much chaos. It can have a direct effect on their job, such as a demotion of position. There are cases where whistleblowers have lost their lives due to the important and sacredness of the information that was discloses to expose others. There are two different types of whistleblowers. There is the internal whistleblower, which exposes those within an organization and then you have the external whistleblowers which exposes those outside an organization. Whistleblowers do the complete opposite of what most individuals in corporate America do, cover up one another. Whistleblowers always go around their boss, never tell their boss what they want to hear but only the truth, and they always give a report for what the boss does not want reported. This can cause major chaos in the whistleblower’s life. Not only could their family be affected by their behaviors but also their credibility as a person. This is because many individuals are scared to talk against their employer in fear of them losing their jobs. There was a case with Verizon and the government. According to the whistleblower, Verizon was overcharging the government...
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...06 – Whistleblower, Product Safety vs. Animal Rights Whistleblower 70-85 * Whistleblowing is a new label generated by awareness of ethical conflicts encountered at work. They sound an alarm in the organization that threatens public interest * Whistleblowing has high stakes * Moral conflicts on several levels whether to speak out about abuses or risks or serious neglect * Things to consider? - ARGUMENTS * Is speaking out in fact in the public interest * Does speaking out, outweigh the his responsibilities against his colleagues and institution he works for * If 1 and 2 are valid, what about the fear ot the results * Can be threatened to undergo psychiatric fitness test, declared unfit, fired etc, marked as crazy * Like all dissent, whistleblowing makes public a disagreement with an authority or a majority view. * Dissent, breach of loyalty and accusation. Is there ways to find alternatives in-order not to breach these things? * You could be harming something bigger by being a whistle blower * Most important question, whether the existing avenues for change within the organization have been explored * Whistleblowing should be last alternative because of its destructive side affects, only chose when all other things are considered and rejected. * Does it infringe personal or private matters that we have no right to invade. Animal Rights – 135-164 * 200 million animals were used for scientific purposes ...
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...Case Incident 2 WHISTLE-BLOWERS: SAINTS OR SINNERS? Corporate whistle-blowers, individuals who report company wrongdoings, are often lauded for their courage and integrity. For example, one famous whistle-blower, former Enron executive Sherron Watkins, was named by Time magazine as one of 2002’s Persons of the Year. Given that whistle-blowers face unemployment, and, often times, ridicule from their company, many people do not come forward to report illegal activity. To encourage whistleblowers, the whistle-blower law, adopted in 1986, pays informants as much as 30 percent of legal fines reaped during lawsuits. With settlements often exceeding $100 million, whistle-blowers can sometimes see huge payoffs. Some experts are concerned that these payoffs are creating a culture where employees quickly report wrongdoings instead of trying to rectify the situation internally. Douglas Durand, for example, was a former vice president of sales at TAP Pharmaceutical Products. In 1995, he began to suspect that TAP was conspiring with doctors to defraud Medicare. Pharmaceutical companies routinely provide doctors with free samples of the latest drugs; however, Durand believed that TAP was working with doctors to bill Medicare for the free drugs, a practice that is against federal law. Later that same year, Durand became more worried when he discovered that TAP had decided to pay a 2 percent fee to individual doctors to cover “administrative costs”—a kickback in Durand’s opinion. Durand...
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...Whistleblower Policy Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Made possible through the support of the Annenberg Foundation About This Form: Public Counsel’s Community Development Project has designed the attached form of Whistleblower Policy for a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation to assist nonprofit organizations seeking to adopt or amend such a governance policy and the pro bono attorneys who represent them. This form is annotated with explanatory endnotes, including citations to applicable laws, alternatives and recommended practices. For further instructions on how to use this form, how to create a policy that will allow a corporation to answer “yes” to Section VI, Question 13 on the revised Form 990, and how to implement this governance policy, please see the endnotes. Public Counsel will update this form periodically for changes in law, recommended practices and available resources. For the latest version, see www.publiccounsel.org/practice_areas/community_development. Important Notes: In creating any governance policy, it is very important that a nonprofit corporation institute procedures that the corporation is likely to be able to comply with consistently in the long term. Therefore, this sample should be used only after carefully considering every provision, and a corporation should not adopt any provisions that will be too burdensome for the corporation to follow given its circumstances. A governance policy will not protect a corporation...
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...To: Whom It May Concern Date: May 17, 2013 Re: Whistleblower Incidence Whistle-blowing is the activity of a person telling the general public or a person of authority something dishonest or illegal occurring within their organization. Many individuals end up facing severe consequences in the form of backlash from their organization. Over fifteen years ago, Joanna Gualtieri, a former foreign affairs realty portfolio manager, spoke up about lavish spending in the form of accommodation abroad for staff that was a part of foreign affairs. Reports from the Inspector General and Auditor general evidenced her claims. Some of the spending she observed was an eighteen million dollar mansion in Tokyo which remained empty for several years. The individual who was supposed to stay in it rented luxury properties spending up to $350,000 of government money a year. Another instance was a million dollar condominium owned by the crown in which the Ambassador’s Japanese butler and chef lived. At the time, she stated the bureau did not care and was reduced to a low-level job due to her claims. Her superiors ignored her and censored reports that described how the government’s multi-million dollar properties were being improperly used. She was harassed by three of her bosses and eventually ended up on unpaid medical leave. Some of the harassment she faced included: * Nay-saying of her concerns and claims * Ridicule to her dedication and stewardship * Forbiddance of...
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...12/6/14 Should Whistleblowers Be Protected? * Introduction The corruption rate in a community that does not support or protect reporting illegal activities is significantly high. Employees who work in public or private organizations are the first to identify wrongdoings in a workplace since they have up-to-date information. Whistleblowing can be an essential tool to identify and report these actions in the public, private and non-profit sectors. However, by revealing wrongdoings, whistleblowers often take high personal risks. Lacking strong legal protection might increase the change of facing dismissal, harassment and other forms of retaliation (“Whistleblower protection”, 2012). Whistleblower protection is vital to motivate employees to report misconduct. Paying more attention protecting whistleblowers will benefit organizations where employees know how to report a violation and have confidence to report. This will also assist businesses to spot and stop bribery in their transaction deals. Moreover, government and corporate misconduct could be continued if employees were frightened to speak out (“Whistleblower protection”, 2012). Barriers to whistleblowing * Retaliation Retaliation is a negative result experienced by an individual for reporting illegal behaviors. Through history, whistleblowing has been a risky business since it matches between individuals and his or her organization. A relatively few whistleblowers’ cases have survived from this challenge without...
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...RE: Filing Whistleblower Complaints under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ARTICLE SYNOPSIS In relating to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX Act) of 2002, the article defines how personnel that work for companies that are traded publicly or are required to file with the SEC rate protection against retaliation when reporting mail, bank, wire, or securities fraud, regulation and rule violation of the SEC, or violations of other “Federal law relating to fraud against shareholders” (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2011). LEGAL ISSUE The article addresses how whistleblowers can defend themselves under SOX; something that has occurred several times over the decades in business. Whistleblowers uncover fraud and deception to the government and, in some cases, the public. This forces businesses to operate in accordance with federal law. MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE The affect this protection affords employees of such companies is tremendous. Jeffrey Wigand is one such employee who would have benefitted from this act in 1996. Mr. Wigand disclosed the facts about big tobacco causing a major lawsuit with millions in damages to the public (Salter, 2002). Barron Stone filed a lawsuit under SOX by whistleblowing on Duke Energy for their improper accounting procedures (Ebeling, 2003). In Mr. Wigand’s case he was not protected therefore could not avoid his legal problems. Mr. Stone did benefit from protection under SOX thus avoided legal issues. Both big tobacco and Duke Energy could...
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...A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities (misconduct) occurring in a government department or private company or organization. In 2002 Time named three where unique women as its person of year. All three had blown the whistle on what could be easily categorized as the largest scandals by government and corporate organizations. Cynthia Cooper is a native of Clinton, Mississippi who formerly served as the Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom. In 2002, Cooper and her team of auditors worked together and often at night and in secret to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history. Since leaving MCI, Cooper has started her own consulting firm. In addition, Cooper speaks to professionals as well as high school and college students to share her experiences and lessons learned. Cooper's book about her life and the WorldCom fraud, Extraordinary Circumstances: “The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower”, was published in 2008. Profits from the book were given to universities for ethics education. Coleen Rowley grew up in a small town in northeast Iowa. She obtained a B.A. degree in French from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa and then attended the College of Law at the University of Iowa. She graduated with honors in 1980 and passed the Iowa Bar Exam that summer. In January of 1981, Ms. Rowley was appointed...
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...Whistleblower Date: SUBJECT: Are We Safe? In this situation where it is more than apparent that there is a disregard for safety at the workplace I would move forward and file a complaint with my company “Wooden”. I would only do this step to prove that I did go ahead and try to go through the proper channels at my workplace. Based on the responses of the Tony Lord (Owner) and management team which includes Jason Rhine (Safety Coordinator), Alex Riveria (Area Manager) it would be obvious that they do not consider the sparks or the level of dust to be hazardous and would not try to correct the situation. Seeing that they would not change the situation I would go ahead and file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Having to file a complaint within the company, especially with such negative responses would more than likely cause job hardship. This would be because the company might feel as though I was trying to create problems and could potentially be causing the company to lose money. They might lose money because of having to shut down production and then also pay their environmental services team to clean the mess to a level of expectation. The types of job hardship I might face because of this would be suspension, poor job performance, job disciplines and negative interactions. However, I do feel as though even if I had to experience a job hardship or potentially lose my job it would be better than losing my life or being...
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...Whistleblowers, as described in “Law and Ethics in the Business Environment”, are individuals who report illegal or unethical activity, usually executed by their employer. Most whistleblowers, who are at-will employees, are victims of retaliation by their employers, up to and including termination. These at-will employees are protected under numerous laws established by federal and state governments, which apply to both private and public employees. At-will employees are protected, in most states, by the common law approach that employees are not to be removed from a company unless he or she violates the employer’s handbook or policy statement. Tort law also protects at-will employees by awarding a whistleblower money damages for wrongful discharge. The most relevant law is that of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2012, which protects employees who report fraud within public traded companies. In most instances, whistleblowers are long-term loyal employees who often must go to outside authorities or the media, only after their voices were not heard by company authority. (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012) I believe whistleblowing first protects the company’s internal and external customers. Without whistleblowers, a company can cause customers to endure physical or financial distress. Whistleblowing, under certain circumstances, can also protect the company and/or the whistleblower. The whistleblower can protect themselves from criminal charges if they report illegal activities which...
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...reporting, and the belief that nothing will be done. Equally, those who do report say that they did so because they felt supported by managers and coworkers, they believed something would be done, and they were able to report anonymously (Trevino, 2015). For those who do report, most people prefer to handle issues within the organization before venturing outside, and most will go to their direct supervisor first (Trevino, 2015). Recently, protection for certain types of whistleblowing has increased with legislation such as the U.S. False Claims Act, Sarbanes-Oxley and the creation of the Office of the Whistleblower by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Whistleblower Due To Receive $63+ Million Reward Keith Edwards, a former J.P. Morgan employee is due to receive a nearly $64 million payment from the U.S. government for the tips he provided as a whistleblower. According to (Veire, 2014), Mr. Edwards provided information that led to a payment by J.P. Morgan...
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