How to Whistleblow

The Decision to Whistleblow: Is It Worth It?
The Pros and Cons of Whistleblowing for Whistleblowers
One of the main legacies of the outgoing Trump administration will be its evisceration of the inspectors general and other watchdog agencies tasked with overseeing the legal operations of the U.S. government. Indeed, whistleblowing resulted in the recent and extremely rare case of a presidential impeachment over a purportedly “perfect phone call” which in reality was determined to be violative of multiple U.S. laws. These events underscore the importance of whistleblowing to the ensuring that public and private sector organizations engage in legal and ethical conduct, but they also beg the question as to whether whistleblowing should begin internally within the company’s compliance department or should reports go directly to regulators.
The legal definition of whistleblowing does not provide any substantive guidance in this regard. For instance, according to the definition provided by Black’s Law Dictionary (1990), a whistleblower is “an employee who refuses to engage in and/or reports illegal or wrongful of his employer or fellow employees” (p. 1596), but it does not indicate where this report should be directed. The conventional wisdom holds that people in both the public and private sectors will direct a whistleblower report according to established organizational protocols, but there may be circumstances that make this approach untenable. For example, a potential whistleblower would be highly reluctant to report the illegal activities of the individual to whom the report should be directed, thereby making the need to report such activities directly to regulators the only perceived viable alternative (Alamsyah & Ismawan, 2019).
Likewise, the degree of severity of the purported illegal or otherwise unethical and prohibited activities will have an effect on the decision as to where to direct such reports. For example, according to Transparency International (2020), “One of the factors that motivate someone to become a whistleblower is the severity of the violation” (Whistleblowing, para. 3). This means that there are also some other compelling reasons for directing a whistleblower report to regulators rather than following protocols that require such reports to be directed internally, including most especially the belief that nothing will be accomplished by filing a report internally within the company’s compliance department. This perception may be especially acute in organizations that are controlled by a “good old boy” cabal that protects their own.
In addition, the lack of definitional clarity also begs the question as to whether whistleblowing legislation been a good enforcement tool. In some cases, the answer to this question would be in the affirmative. For instance, on the one hand, Transparency International points out that, “Whistleblowing is one of the most effective ways to detect and prevent corruption and other malpractice. Whistleblowers’ disclosures have exposed wrongdoing and fraud, helped save millions in public funds, avoid disasters for health, the environment” (Whistleblowing, 2020, para. 3). Moreover, there have been several high-profile cases where whistleblowers have proven their importance in revealing wrongdoing on a massive level such as “industry-scale tax avoidance (LuxLeaks and Panama Papers), and money laundering (Danske Bank scandal)” (Whtstleblowing, 2020, para. 4).
Taken together, these outcomes indicate that while existing whistleblowing legislation has helped uncover serious wrongdoing in recent years, far more could have been accomplished if the current laws were strengthened to provide more protections for whistleblowers who fear retaliation for their lawful and laudable efforts to disclose wrongdoing on the part on fellow employees or higher-ups. As Transparency International concludes, “Unfortunately, reporting often comes at a high price: whistleblowers risk their career, their livelihood and sometimes their personal safety to expose wrongdoing that threatens the public interest” (Whistleblowing, 2020, para. 5).
References
Alamsyah, C. & Ismawan, D. P. (2019). The influence of severity violation, demographic factors, and organizational factors on whistleblowing intention. Journal of Economics and Business, 3(2), 1-11.
Black’s law dictionary. (1990). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.
Whistleblowing. (2020). Transparency International. Retrieved from https://www.transparency.org/en/our-priorities/whistleblowing.