Protecting Whistleblowers By Contract

Numerous statutes and the tort of wrongful discharge purport to prohibit companies from retaliating against employee whistleblowers. However, whistleblowers often lose retaliation lawsuits because these statutory and common law tort protections depend upon a variety of nuanced factors, such as the employer for whom the whistleblower works, the kind of wrongdoing reported, the way in which the employee blew the whistle, and, under some laws, the willingness of an administrative agency to investigate the whistleblower's claim. Given these difficulties, this Article explores an alternate route for whistleblower protection: enforcing the existing contract protections that private employers currently provide employees when they report misconduct. Rules recently enacted by the major stock exchanges now require each publicly traded company to publish a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics promising not to retaliate against employees. These Code anti-retaliation promises potentially provide broader whistleblower protection than statutory and tort protections, and enforcing the Codes contractually could address the weaknesses of these traditional remedies. This Article highlights the benefits of breach of contract claims based on corporate Codes, addresses the potential difficulties that whistleblowers may face when asserting such claims, and presents possible solutions to these problems.

UPDATED IN MARCH 2013 to include the historic $104-million Bradley Birkenfeld whistleblower case and more! From the nation’s leading whistleblower attorney, comes the third edition of the first-ever consumer guide to whistleblowing. In The Whistleblower’s Handbook, Stephen Martin Kohn explains nearly all federal and state laws regarding whistleblowing. In the step-by-step bulk of the book, he also presents twenty-one rules for whistleblowers.

An updated edition of the first-ever consumer guide to whistleblowing by the nation’s leading whistleblower attorney The newest edition of The Whistleblower’s Handbook brings the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to exposing workplace wrongdoing up-to-date with new information on wildlife whistleblowing, auto safety whistleblowing, national security whistleblowing, and ocean pollution whistleblowing. It also includes a new “Toolkit” for international whistleblowers. This essential guide explains nearly all federal and state laws regarding whistleblowing, and in the step-by-step bulk of the book, presents more than twenty must-follow rules for whistleblowers—from finding the best federal and state laws to the dangers of blindly trusting internal corporate “hotlines” to obtaining the proof you need to win the case.

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 85. Chapters: Non-disclosure agreement, Minimum wage, Whistleblower, Department of Defense Whistleblower Program, Sexual harassment, Unemployment benefits, Workers' compensation, Work-life balance, Non-compete clause, Wrongful dismissal, Overtime, At-will employment, Constructive dismissal, Defense Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection, Layoff, Flextime, Huffman v. OPM, Decent work, Employment testing, Contingent workforce, Sleeping while on duty, Work permit, Uninsured Employer, Hostile environment sexual harassment, Yellow-dog contract, Employment contract, Leave of absence, Occupational disease, Unemployment extension, Retroactive overtime, Unreported employment, Four-day week, Workers' Compensation Employer Defense, Garden leave, Power harassment, Compromise agreement, Hostile work environment, Love contract, Duvet day, Course of employment, Reverification, Individual capacity, Legal working age, Conditional dismissal, Undue hardship. Excerpt: The Department of Defense Whistleblower Program enables, in part, the federal mission of protecting whistleblowers by committing the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense to whistleblower protection and the training of DoD personnel on their whistleblower rights. It also administers the Defense Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Program (DICWP), as a sub-mission. In 2009, the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense targeted the Whistleblower Protection Program as a top priority. For more than 20 years, the DoD IG has investigated whistleblower reprisal allegations involving the Department's military members, civilian employees, and Defense contractor employees. Through informational articles, posters, and briefings, the DoD IG significantly increased public awareness of whistleblower programs. It also provided information to...

Litigator, teacher, and scholar Stephen Kohn presents a comprehensive, unified examination of the 35 federal laws that protect whistleblowers and their rights, plus the common law protections available in each of the 50 states. For the first time in one easily accessed volume, readers will find the basic principles upon which all whistleblower law is premised. Mr. Kohn lays out the basic legal principles applicable to almost every whistleblower case, such as the scope of protected activity and who qualifies for protection. He shows what constitutes discriminatory conduct, what type of evidence demonstrates that improper retaliation occurred, the burdens of proof on both the employee and employer, how to calculate damages and attorney fees, common settlement and fundamental procedural issues, and much more, all in meticulously documented detail and a readable, engaging style. Built upon Mr. Kohn's extensive practical experience and his scholarly research and teaching, not only is the book an essential resource for study and analysis of whistleblowing issues, but it is also a step-by-step guide for conceptualizing and litigating them. Attorneys with specialties in a wide range of fields involving whistleblower law and related policy issues will find a thoughtful, comprehensive examination, and an immediately applicable courtroom aid. It will also be important for human resource executives, labor union officers and attorneys, government contractors, and recipients of government grants, university and government libraries, federal agency executives and specialists, public interest and good government organizations—and many others who have become fascinated by this relatively new, but long-time coming, branch of the law, how it developed, and how it is being applied today.

Highly publicized cases involving whistleblowers including Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and WikiLeaks have brought whistleblowing to the public's attention in recent years. It has gained further attention in the "Me Too" era, as whistleblowers have exposed numerous cases of misconduct among powerful men in the entertainment industry and beyond. Whether whistleblowing is an inherently positive practice and how whistleblowers should be protected and compensated for their deeds are widely debated. Through diverse perspectives from authoritative voices, readers will gain an understanding of the practice of whistleblowing, the laws related to it, and its place in democratic society.

This volume takes a look at the status quo of whistleblowing in several jurisdictions from around the world. Covering a topic that draws the attention of a broad public and is gaining importance amongst legislators, practitioners and scholars all over the globe, the book examines the various aspects of whistleblowing. It looks at what kind of legal protection of whistleblowers is in force, who is protected, what kind of behaviour is protected, and what kind of behaviour whistleblowers are protected against. This is achieved by a combination of a general comparative report with country-specific reports that give information on whistleblowing in various jurisdictions. These countries include, amongst others, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA. A synopsis comprises information on whistleblowing in 23 countries in one tabula. The chapters of this book were originally prepared for the XIXth International Congress of Comparative Law (20th and 21st sup="" July 2014) of International Academy of Comparative Law in Vienna.

A “brisk and interesting” exploration of exposing misconduct in America—from the Revolutionary War era to the Trump years (Jill Lepore, The New Yorker). PROSE Award winner in the Government, Policy and Politics category Misconduct by those in high places is always dangerous to reveal. Whistleblowers thus face conflicting impulses: by challenging and exposing transgressions by the powerful, they perform a vital public service—yet they always suffer for it. This episodic history brings to light how whistleblowing, an important but unrecognized cousin of civil disobedience, has held powerful elites accountable in America. Analyzing a range of whistleblowing episodes, from the corrupt Revolutionary War commodore Esek Hopkins (whose dismissal led in 1778 to the first whistleblower protection law) to Edward Snowden, to the dishonesty of Donald Trump, Allison Stanger reveals the centrality of whistleblowing to the health of American democracy. She also shows that with changing technology and increasing militarization, the exposure of misconduct has grown more difficult to do and more personally costly for those who do it—yet American freedom, especially today, depends on it. “A stunningly original, deeply insightful, and compelling analysis of the profound conflicts we have faced over whistleblowing, national security, and democracy from our nation's founding to the Age of Trump.” —Geoffrey R. Stone, award–awinning author of Perilous Times “This clear-eyed, sobering book narrates a history of whistle-blowing, from the American Revolution to Snowden to Comey, and delivers the verdict that the republic is at risk—a must read.” —Danielle Allen, award-winning author of Our Declaration