Whistle Blowing

Working in the corporate or government environment, employees are sometimes subject to see things they should not see. Such things that are unethical to society or to the corporation. An employee is then placed in a situation where the employee must decide what action should be taken. Do you report the unethical behavior to upper-management or do you just let it go to avoid risking the disciplinary action towards a co-worker, the company or at times risk losing your job. Whistleblowing is defined as an employee's disclosure to government, the press, or upper-management authorities that the employer is engaged in unsafe or illegal activities. The textbook, "Moral Issues in Business, stated whistleblowing as "an employee act of informing the public about the illegal or immoral behavior of an employer or organization.

At times employees are reluctant to report their company or disclose information of unethical behavior because of loyalty to the company or fear of having to deal with the matter and end up losing their job. A lot of people love where they work and do not want to be labeled "snitches". But the important part of learning more about this topic is to discover the rights tha

The False Claims Act which was revised in 1986, protects whistle blowers from dismissal. The good thing about this Act is it allows for reinstatement with seniority, double back pay, interest on back pay, compensation for discriminatory treatment, and reasonable legal fees. This just shows employers that employees need to be respected and with fairness. Important concepts we studied in class were just cause and due process. These concepts help make sure employees are treated fairly and that any discipline or discharge is in relation to job performance. What I am learning as I continue to research whistleblowing is that the problem with employers is that they think they are maximizing profit and saving money by being involved in wrongful activities. I read so many cases about companies that dump toxic waste into rivers, lakes, or oceans because they do not want to spend the money necessary to properly dispose of the toxic material. But at the end these companies end up spending more money after they are caught in the act. When these companies are caught they are usually severely fined, have to pay for the clean up and have to pay for disposing of the toxic waste properly. So what they felt would save them money, actually cost them more at the end.

The problems that are of concern to whistle blowers is that usually