Whistleblowers

Workers in the United States are trained to understand that the employer is in charge, and they need to follow directions at all times. In certain situations, this is fine. However, this mindset does sometimes cause workers to think they have to ignore unethical or...

No federal employee should have to keep his or her mouth shut after viewing unlawful behavior at work. In fact, the federal Whistleblower Protection Act was created for the express purpose of protecting government workers who witnessed immoral, wrongful or illegal...

Whistleblowers are people who witness unlawful or unethical behavior at their workplaces and decide to tell authorities and others about it. In most cases, people who "blow the whistle" on their employers receive more difficulty and headache than they do fame and...

One of the biggest dangers of becoming a so-called "whistleblower" is the threat of employer retaliation. Imagine, for example, that you work for a construction firm that engages in numerous Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) safety violations...

A qui tam action is one that an employee initiates against an employer that committed fraud against the government. Qui tam actions are not that common, however, because employees are often afraid to report their employer's unlawful activity -- due to a fear of...

If you witness wrongful or unlawful activity at your workplace, you have every right to report that activity to your superior — or to the authorities — without fear of negative employment consequences. If your employer decides to retaliate against you for...

Your bosses always say they have an open-door policy. Come in and talk about anything that concerns you at any time, they say.So, when you discover that your department is using substandard parts to make your company's best-selling product, you tell the boss. Soon...

What if you're a federal employee who saw a coworker breaking the law, but when you reported the behavior to your supervisor, you were told to keep quiet? Would you tell your supervisor's boss about what happened? Would you go to the appropriate legal authorities and...

Jackson Public Schools was ordered to pay a teacher $388,485 in both economic and punitive damages on March 7. After more than a week of trial and litigation, a dispute that began in 2015 was finally settled. However, the school board still has a 30-day period in...

In a February decision, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified who is entitled to receive whistleblower protection under the Dodd-Frank Act.The issue for the court was whether Dodd-Frank shields employees who report wrongdoing to their employer but not to the Securities and...