A survivors guide to whistleblowing

Last updated: 1 August 2023

This review asks: What is a whistleblower? Why do whistleblowers endure all forms of retaliation for the sake of truth? What does the whistleblower's cycle of abuse often look like? How to blow the whistle without blowing your career? What might non-disclosure agreements settlements include? What do whistleblowers say about whistleblowing? What can be done to protect whistleblowers? How are whistleblowers celebrated? Whistleblower documentaries and movies?

What is a whistleblower?

A whistleblower is a person who exposes secretive information or activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal,?unethical , or not correct . The term is thought to have been coined by the U.S. civic activist?Ralph Nader ,?in the early 1970s to avoid the negative connotations associated with words such as "informer" and "snitch (1)

Why do whistleblowers endure all forms of retaliation for the sake of truth?

Don Selkoe, an expert who has worked with whistleblowers for 35 years and the author of the book Don't Kill the Messenger (see?www.whistleblowing.us ), says that whistleblowers are ready to endure all forms of retaliation for the sake of truth, as the truth-telling part of their brain seems to override the health and safety part (2).

What are the challenges of being a whistleblower?

Whistleblowers are never thanked:

A survey of 399 whistleblowers performed by the APPG Whistleblowing group on 339 respondents found that (i) most respondents (91%) indicated that the organisation did not follow the appropriate procedures to manage whistleblowing as directed by Acas; (ii) the majority (78%) experienced retaliation and 14% said they were not offered any support after making their claim; and (iii) only 8% felt their company was generally supportive to their complaint (3).

Only about a quarter of the world's 190+ countries have whistleblowing laws in place. See Press Release: Are whistleblowing laws working? IBA and Government Accountability Project publish landmark report - Government Accountability Project (whistleblower.org)

"The whole process around employment tribunals is to rack up your costs and bleed you dry until you give up" says a Former HR professional at one of the Big Four: EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC. See Betrayed by the Big Four: whistleblowers speak out | Financial Times (ft.com)

What does the whistleblower's cycle of abuse often look like?

According to APPG's whistleblower report from 2019 (3), employee retaliation appears to follow similar forms and patterns and it often happens in stages where relatively minor and informal retaliatory responses gradually escalate into more serious and formal ones, that often culminate in the departure of the whistleblower from the organisation. The cycle of abuse runs through the following stages:

• Reporting: The whistleblower decides to make a disclosure, often after longstanding concerns and discussions with colleagues, managers and family members;
• Isolation: The organisation starts distancing itself from the whistleblower in several ways, such as by excluding them from the processes following the reporting, by isolating them and/or by turning staff against them. This can be accompanied by intimidation or harassment by the organisation.
• Scrutiny: The organisation initiates a close scrutiny of the whistleblower and their work performance to discredit them. A previous high performer can suddenly be come an underperformer, and whistleblowers can be set up to fail with impossible workloads or deadlines. Sometimes, whistleblower are explicitly blamed for blowing the whistle.
• Counter Accusations: The organisation moves informal accusations against the whistleblower, as part of a strategy as ‘character assassination’, as described by a respondent to our survey, or to induce them to change their statements;
• Disciplinary action: In many cases accusations are formally brought by the organisation against whistleblower through disciplinary proceedings which can culminate in sanctions. This not only discredits the whistleblower, but can be used by the organisation against them in court proceedings, especially before employment tribunals;
• Demotion/Pay reduction: Several negative consequences might follow or accompany the attempts to undermine or intimidate the whistleblower, including demotion from a role or a location and reduction in salary or other benefits;
• Dismissal/Forced resignation: The most serious formal way to retaliate against employee is dismissal or forced resignation;
• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA): The organisation forces the whistleblower to sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from spreading their disclosure any further;
• Allegations ignored/case closed: Discrediting, silencing or removing the whistleblower allows the organisation to ignore or dismiss the allegations made in their disclosure.

Not every whistleblower is subjected to the full cycle of abuse. Many respondents to our survey, however, have suggested that organisations adopted different form of retaliation at the same time and in connection with each other. Also, a surprisingly large number of respondents reported they had to leave their jobs.

How to blow the whistle without blowing your career?

What might non-disclosure agreements settlements include?

Settlement agreements can include other clauses requiring the whistleblower to (i) withdraw all allegations; (ii) agree that grievances have been satisfactorily investigated; (iii) agree to withdraw appeal and/or actions with the ICO (information commissioner's office); (iv) accept the compensation as settlement in full of present and future claims; (v) agree to withdraw existing claims and undertaking not to make further subject access requests at any time in the future; (vi) agree not to contact legal advisers, regulators or prescribed persons including without first notifying the organisation; (vii) agree on misleading press releases that misrepresent the facts or the views of the whistleblower; and (viii) agree not to share the agreement with another person including a lawyer (3)

What do whistleblowers say about whistleblowing?

The following case studies illustrates what often happens to the silence breakers when they report wrongdoings. See reference 5 - 7 for reviews on whistleblowing in academia, healthcare and at the United Nations, respectively, and references 8-11 for specific whistleblowing cases in academia in the most recent years.

Case study 1: It seems like punishment

‘XX Ambushed my PDR with a senior manager unexpectedly being there and “sitting in” (2:1 dynamic, power imbalance). [Senior Manager] then harangued me and accused me of things I hadn’t done, talked over me, badgered me, manipulated and misrepresented what I had said, breached my confidentiality, denigrated me, called me a negative and divisive influence in the workplace (because I had dared to raise concerns). […] Lied to me, lied about me and lied about my team. Made it clear that as long as [senior manager] is in post she will block my promotion.

Suggested I will be moved and redeployed and my team broken up - seems like “punishment”. Over the following weeks when I said how upset I was by this treatment I kept being given extra tasks to do but no extra time to do it; I ended up stressed, high anxiety, signed off sick’ (3)

Case study 2: They denied that a disclosure had taken place

‘They started the disciplinary process against me, raised multiple allegations of misconduct in order to dismiss me. They denied that a disclosure had taken place. My fight for my job lasted more than 3 months, made me feel exhausted, stressed and extremely anxious. We ended up with a settlement agreement. I was told by the employer that if I whistleblow externally it will damage the business and they can then raise a claim against me in a civil court.’ (3)

Case study 3: The many forms of retaliation

‘I was ostracized by staff members and management which made me feel very isolated and uncomfortable. I was watched like a hawk and people were chatting about me behind my back as I did have one ally there who was also treated badly’.

‘My work was checked, and other staff were canvassed regarding their opinions of me. I felt very much under threat. I had to ensure that I made no mistakes of any kind that could be used against me’.

[The organisation] ‘hampered my side of investigation by limiting (initially refusing) access to my work emails and by deliberate time-wasting after giving limited time for access’. ‘When I first complained to a line manager I was sent home. I felt as though I had done something wrong’ ‘Management told me what happened was my fault, others said they would support me but just wanted information from me and then turned against me to blacken my name when I had done nothing wrong’.

‘I did not dare to raise concerns again for fear of being seen as manipulative or awkward to the case’. ‘[…] the person whom I complained about launched a counter complaint to my employers against me. At the time the allegations made against me were dismissed. (I continued to raise complaints against the partner agencies for my employer during this time and a year later allegations were again raised against me by an agency linked to the original agency who complained against me. The complaint was based on the same information which had been dismissed the previous year’. ‘[the organisation] conducted a sustained character assassination, making multiple false accusations about me to several government agencies, my union and Occupational Health stating that I made a habit of making baseless allegations, had falsely accused someone in the past and suggested that [she/he] fabricated an assault, none of which was true’. ‘[the organisation] disseminated lies about me and also my family over a period of some 25 years, both within their own organisation and also to other public service agencies, to the detriment of [the whole family]. (3)

Case Study 4

“The bank I blew the whistle to used 3 City law firms against me, 2 of them ‘Magic Circle’. The Global Head of Employment Law at one Magic Circle firm claimed (in writing) that they “had up to 37 people working weekends on (my) case”. I frequently had crates of documents sent to my home after 10pm, on weekends and at the start of Public Holidays. [lawyer] “unintentionally omitted” over 95% of my evidence from the trial bundle they were ordered by the Court to produce, causing a more than 6 month delay in proceedings. The [employers]’ lawyers also lied to the Court as to the relevance of documents (which were unlawfully withheld) and engaged in collusion in the production of witness statements which had bizarre, repeated errors across multiple statements as to facts”. (3)

What can be done to protect whistleblowers?

As three-quarters of whistleblowers experience retaliation from their employer including bullying, attempts to destroy evidence and dismissal, according to a group of MPs seeking to strengthen protections for those who highlight corporate wrongdoing, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing (APPG) has demanded radical reforms to?legislation in order to stamp out the “cycle of abuse” that many staff face after raising concerns, which can sometimes involve disciplinary action, demotion, pay reduction and even dismissal. The APPG report makes several recommendations to improve protections for whistleblowers, including:

• defining the term “whistleblower” in law and revising the legal definition of whistleblowing to include any harmful violation of integrity and ethics, even when not criminal or illegal
• extending protections to the public and include protection against retaliation
• banning the use of non-disclosure agreements in whistleblowing cases
• reviewing the compensation awarded by employment tribunals
• establishing an Independent Office for the Whistleblower with powers allowing it to set standards, enforce the protections, and administer meaningful penalties to organisations and individuals within organisations (4)
• The EU proposal to protect whistleblowers

When is the National Whistleblower Day celebrated?

July 30, 2020 marks the 242nd anniversary of the U.S. Continental Congress passing America's first whistleblower law during the height of the American Revolution 1778. National Whistleblower Center celebrates this day with an annual celebration to honor and celebrate the great contributions of whistleblowers (12-14). Here is a speech from Sheila White from 2019:

Whistleblower documentaries

See references 15-18 for documentaries and movies about whistleblowers

The Whistleblowers

Exposing corruption, abuse and war crimes

Interview with Tom Devine - The Corporate Whistleblower's Survival Guide

Whistleblower movies

There are several dozen whistleblower movies not to miss.

Serpico (1973)

All the President's Men (1976)

Silkwood (1983)

The Insider (1999)

The Informant (2009)

Snowden (2016)

The Post (2017)

Social media

#BackTheBill #OfficeForTheWhistleblower #NationalWhistleblowerDay #WhistleblowerDay @IBANews @GovAcctProj @AWhistleblowing @WB_UK @WhistleUK @whistleblowing @CCWhistleblower @BlowThe_Whistle @StopFraud @WhistleblowerNN @TheIIA @POGOBlog @StrausReform @AskMoreKnowMore #PaperTrail @ConPro @GoodLawProject @whistleblowerdr @MaryInman94 @LaurenceVick @BaronessKramer @scottmann4NC @PhilipDaviesUK @tonyberkeley1 @KKCWhistleblow @unisontheunion #UNISONtheUnion @The_TUC

References

1. Whistleblower - Wikipedia
2. Don Selkoe. Nature 505 (26) 2014. Whistle-blowers have a tough time | Nature
3. Whistleblowing: The Personal Cost of Doing the Right Thing and the Cost to Society of Ignoring it https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/88d04c_9754e54bc641443db902cd963687cb55.pdf and Covid-19-Report_Protect_October-2020_final.pdf (amazonaws.com)
4. Three quarters of whistleblowers 'retaliated against' by their employer - Personnel Today
5. Whistleblowing in academia,?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/whistleblowing-academia-krzysztof-potempa/ ?
6. Whistleblowing in healthcare. See?https://lnkd.in/dpcjzMe
7. Whistleblowing at the UN https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/whistleblowing-un-krzysztof-potempa/ ?
8. Ula Scandal?lnkd.in/dA3egXT
9. Wellcome Sanger Institute Scandal?lnkd.in/dUpF3q3
10. The University of Rochester Scandal?lnkd.in/eH_wtak
11. The ICR London Scandals?lnkd.in/dQsmZdr
12. 2020 National Whistleblower Day Recognition (whistleblowers.org)
13. National Whistleblower Day- Things Everyone Should Know (nationaldaystoday.com)
14. National Whistleblower Day | United States
15. The 21 Best Movies About Whistleblowers | Hollywood Reporter
16. 7 movies about whistleblowers that you cannot miss | by Transparency Int’l | Voices for Transparency
17. Whistleblower Movies - American Heroes and Heroines! - IMDb
18. 20 whistleblower movies to watch | EW.com
19. Source of cover images: The Issue of Whistleblowing in the Workplace| Definition and Examples (cmdi.ma) , Whistleblower | Workplace Safety and Environmental Law Alert Blog (environmentalsafetyupdate.com)

Further readings

Blowing the Whistle -- Practical Tips - Workplace Fairness

How To Survive And Prosper As A Corporate Whistleblower (forbes.com)

Whistleblowing case studies - Protect - Speak up stop harm (protect-advice.org.uk)

Whistleblowing | Disputes and grievances | UNISON National

Whistleblowing for employees - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Leading Whistleblower Organizations Launch Update to Survival Guide For Whistleblowers on 30th Anniversary of Whistleblower Protection Act (pogo.org)

untitled (theiia.org)

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