Whistleblowing Essay

Review “Just pucker and blow: An analysis of corporate whistleblowers” in Chapter 2. Please respond to the following:

Despite the reward and employment protections, people still hesitate to contact the SEC even thought it is possible to make an anonymous report through an attorney. Often, individuals don't want to get their employer in trouble, however, with media accounts of multi-million dollar whistleblower rewards, someone else will make the report first. If you wait, and another person has already provided the exact same information, your information isn't original and you won't

According to Harvard Law School’s article, approximately two-thirds of companies in the U.S. are affected by fraud. However, whistleblower Hotline can be as defense against management overrides. The article noted that whistleblower could be more effective if it become as apart of the corporate compliance programs and a reward of any monetary sanctions collected to motivate the employees Also, the article mention that the employees

The Dodd- Frank law on whistle-blowing bounty program is an upgrade from the Sarbanes- Oxley. The Sarbanes – Oxley whistle -blower program protected employees from getting retaliated upon by their employers when they report misconduct within the company they are employed. Dodd- Frank law took is a step further, an employee who reports financial misconduct are entitled to receive 10 percent to 30 percent of the fines and settlements if the conviction is upheld and the penalties exceed $1 million dollars (Ferrell, 112, 2013). The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2010 (Ferrell, pg. 110, 2013). The focal mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to make markets for

The various forms of retribution that whistle-blowers endure at the hands of employers both financially and psychologically for attempting to correct mismanagement, fraud, and dishonesty are often too much for the whistle-blower to bear. Careers are in jeopardy because individuals with strong ethics decide to pursue law suits against their employers. One example is where the US Forest Service employees found their careers ruined by either demotions or loss of jobs when caught speaking out in favor of the environment or sound science, or when

1. Describe the key characteristics of a whistleblower, and briefly summarize one (1) researched instance of whistleblowing in one (1) publicly traded company within the last 12 months. Include the details of the issue that the whistleblower reported and the effect of the whistleblower’s actions on both the whistleblower himself and the company.

Also we know that Daniel Berman was the Finance Director at the company. His issue was he felt some of the accounting practices violated SEC regulation. By relaying the information to a senior officer, he is considered a whistleblower. As the Finance Director, all dealings in the finance/accounting department(s) fall on him whether right or wrong. I believe he was justified in relaying the information based on how it could eventually negatively affect the company. With him being terminated, he decided to sue his former employer and the case was dismissed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. As a result of the case being dismissed it was then filed with the United States Court of Appeal Fifth Circuit and ruled the judgment reversed and case remanded. Under Sarbanes-Oxley, Berman is protected because he was retaliated against for reporting suspected corporate fraud. In this case, Berman sued on the basis of the retaliation policy in Dodd-Frank related to the definition of a whistleblower in Sarbanes-Oxley. Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley are so similar that either way he was protected in his

SEC whistleblowers who provide tips about possible unlawful conduct are heroes, although they rarely see themselves that way. Anyone who is considering alerting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about irregularities that involve their employer, colleagues or friends has probably wrestled with the decision for a while before taking action. People who find the courage to report potential violations should remember that they are protecting investors who are saving for retirement or their child's college education.

Over the years Congress has acknowledged and agreed that more needs to be done to incentivize and protect whistleblowers. In the early 2000s, following major accounting scandals, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”). Then several years later, following more major financial scandals and plummeting of the United States economy into the Great Recession of 2008, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act. This section will briefly describe each of these Acts as they provide background for the dispute.

Whistle blowing in organizations can be an outstanding source of needed information to the organization. On the other side, that same information that is delivered can have a negative effect on the employee that has decided to take matters in to their own hands and inform management of potential unethical behavior. An article called “Nonprofit whistle-blower employee nets $1.6 million retaliation award” written by Tricia Gorman is in reference to an employee whistle-blower that her place of employment violated the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act, which is part of the organizations policy for hostile work environment.

In the 2012 fiscal year the SEC heavily emphasized regulations under the Dobbs Frank act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In this fiscal year under the Dobbs Frank act the SEC issued its first Whistleblower Program award. The Whistleblower Program allows the division to award individuals with high-quality information, which leads to an enforcement action. The success of this program has helped the SEC catch predators early on. It saves the division time and resources by uncovering and tipping off the crime to them. The program also helps identify fraud much earlier on. This can help elevate some of the damage to investors and even mitigate the number of possible victims. Also under the Dobbs Frank act the SEC barred 36 individuals from working in the securities industry.

In an age when accelerated communications contribute to growing perceptions of organizational improprieties, the ethical and legal implications of whistleblowing have become a major topic of discussion. According to Lawrence and Weber (2014), whistleblowing is an employee disclosing apparent organizational misconduct to the government or media; however, this reporting of information should come after attempts at going through proper channels in order to persuade the organization to take appropriate actions has been ineffective.

Several theories indicate why the whistle-blowing process has become more prevalent and characteristics or processes encourage individuals to come forward a report instances of wrongdoing or making organizational behaviors public knowledge (Lennane, 2012). The process of whistle-blowing often involves an individual being conflicted between loyalty to their organization or their belief that they have a responsibility to protect public interest above the practices of their organization (Soma & Nirmala, 2011). Individuals may attempt to initiate

Whitleblowing is when a person speaks out about information that may be illegal or unethical with an institution or an organization that is either private or public. However, It can be considered either good or bad depending on the organization or institution. In the government it is sometimes seeing as treason and the whistleblower is almost never rewarded for speaking out about acts that might put a lot of people in danger or even violate peoples human rights. the reason that in the government specifically whisleblowing is pretty much looked as a bad thing is because it might put the citizens of the country against the individuals who are supposed to be running the government in a legal and ethical way without harming anybody. A good example

Whistleblowers perform in many careers and are found at all levels of an organization: scientists and secretaries, lawyers and paralegals, managers and staff, security personnel and computer specialists, etc. They are as varied in age, ethnic background, education, profession, sex, and income as the population at large.