The Dhillon Law Group represents employees in whistleblower cases. We have offices in California, Florida, New Jersey, and New York. Our attorneys have many years of experience representing individuals in many kinds of whistleblower cases.
There are laws that protect the rights of people to speak up when they see illegal activities. For example, California’s Whistleblower Protection Act offers strong assurances for employees. These laws protect both public and private employees and also identify certain instances of retaliation as criminal offenses.
Who is a Whistleblower?
A whistleblower is more than a dissatisfied employee who has a complaint about an employer. The act of whistleblowing involves reporting an employer’s wrongful behavior that could have a broader impact on society, not just the employer-employee relationship.
Interestingly, if you are a federal employee then you have an obligation to become a whistleblower in some cases. Executive Order 12731, which was issued in 1990, requires all federal employees to disclose waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption to authorities.
Still, many potential whistleblowers prefer not to come out in public. They usually consider themselves to be good employees and often will first try to work within their own organization to identify and correct problems.
Other whistleblowers will report perceived employer wrongdoing under federal and state whistleblower protection laws. Their reasons for doing so vary and can include failed attempts to resolve the problem internally within the organization, or being retaliated against or threatened with retaliation if they do.
Still, other employees may conclude that the consequences to society of the employer’s activities are serious enough that exposing them amounts to a public service.
Below are a few of the notable whistleblowers in the United States, and the kinds of activities they exposed:
- Edward Snowden: Disclosed information that the National Security Agency was using telecommunication companies in combination with foreign intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance activities.
- Cynthia Cooper: Revealed that the telecommunication company she worked for had committed nearly $4 billion in corporate fraud.
- Daniel Ellsberg: Disclosed documentary information (“The Pentagon Papers”) that revealed secret US military activities during the Vietnam War that were contrary to stated government objectives and policies.
- Karen Silkwood: Revealed health and safety problems affecting workers in the nuclear power industry.
- Jeffrey Wigand: Revealed methods that tobacco companies used to increase the addictive qualities of tobacco products, and the use of potential carcinogens in additives to those products.
What Kinds of Activities are Subject to Whistleblower Complaints?
Most whistleblower complaints concern one of three kinds of illegal activities:
- Corruption, such as offering or accepting bribes or kickbacks;
- Fraud and waste, including fraudulent accounting practices, price fixing, false certifications, and other attempts to take advantage of others including the government or consumers.
- Harassment and discrimination, including racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and discriminating against workers based on age, religion, ethnicity, immigration status, or other illegal classifications.
What is Retaliation?
Retaliation occurs when, after learning about your whistleblower complaint, your employer takes action against you.
Unfortunately, whistleblower activities and retaliation often go together. After all, if employer retaliation was not a problem, then there would be no distinction between whistleblower activity and filing an ordinary employee complaint.
Retaliation can take many forms. Some of them are overt, like being fired from your job. Others can be more subtle, like reducing your work hours or transferring you to a new position or location that effectively constitutes a demotion. In some cases, like being blacklisted, you may not even be immediately aware of the retaliatory acts against you.
What Are Some Important Whistleblower Laws?
The federal government and state governments understand the importance of whistleblowers to uncover fraud, waste, corruption, harassment, and discrimination within their agencies, bureaus, and departments. Law enforcement and other government investigatory personnel cannot be everywhere at once, and whistleblowers are essential to discouraging and revealing illegal activities that might otherwise go undetected.
Accordingly, multiple federal and state-level legal protections exist for whistleblowers.
The Inspector General Act of 1978
This law requires that a whistleblower’s identity must be concealed unless the whistleblower employee consents to the disclosure of that person’s identity.
The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 (WPA)
The WPA protects the right of public employees to reveal government misconduct, including violations of laws, regulations, or rules, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, and dangers to public safety.
Since the enactment of the WPA, Congress has added more whistleblower protection laws and regulations. Examples include:
- The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998
- The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010
- The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012
- Presidential Policy Directive 19 (2012)
- The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2014
- The FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2018
Federal agencies that protect whistleblowers include the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has its own Whistleblower Protection Program, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which enforces laws that prohibit discrimination against employees.
What Remedies Are Available for Whistleblowers?
Aside from protecting whistleblower employees from retaliation, some whistleblower laws allow employees to file what are known as Qui Tam lawsuits. These are legal actions filed under the federal False Claims Act. In a Qui Tam action, if the government recovers money that was subject to fraud, the whistleblower can recover from 15 to 25 percent of what the government recovers.
Learn More About Whistleblower Protections
The Dhillon Law Group represents employees in whistleblower cases. We have offices in California, Florida, New Jersey, and New York. Our attorneys have many years of experience representing individuals in many kinds of whistleblower cases.
If you have witnessed activities at work that you believe are fraudulent, corrupt, or forms of harassment or discriminatory behavior by your employer, we can help you know what federal or state whistleblower laws may apply and what you can do under them.
If you have been subject to retaliation by your employer because you filed a whistleblower complaint, we can help you here, too. You do not have to face retaliatory acts alone. One of our whistleblower attorneys will stand between you and the employer to make sure your legal rights are respected.
Members of the editorial and news staff of Law&Crime were not involved in the creation of this content.
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