Question

When, if ever, is an employee justified in blowing the whistle? What do you see as the most important factors that he or she needs to consider in deciding whether to blow the whistle?

Answer 1

In organizations, there can be multiple times some fraudulent activities happen or the standard regulated process is not followed. Few employees or their employers would do it to evade tax, hide revenue, black market products, sell illegal goods etc. In such cases most of the employees join them too by keeping a tight lip over such activities. But there can be instances when one or multiple employee decides to do otherwise and comes forward to expose such activities. Any person who exposes or shares such information or data which can show the organization or leadership involved are using illegal, unethical or non regulated practices is termed as a whistle blower.

Most of the times, the whistleblower might do those activities for goodwill or because he does not want them to continue. But as evidenced in the past, almost all the whistle blowers have been targeted by their originations in order to defend themselves and claims are often made against them like the data was manipulated, or wrong data is being projected etc in order to ensure the whistle blowers stance cannot be justified. The employee can be justified in blowing the whistle only if the claims that he brings forward has evidence which can be audited and found correct. In all other cases, if the hard evidence is not present the blower cannot be justified in court or any disciplinary body.

Few things a whistleblower should consider before going forward with his views are:

• Ensure the evidence is proper, audited by independent panel and not manipulated
• Understand the whistle blowing policies within the organization, community and state
• Ensure all the proper methods are followed while whistle blowing
• Be prepared to face multiple law suits from the organization
• Be prepared to face the employer retaliation
• Future job prospects and family safety