Pacific

A whistleblower is a term for someone that alerts the government or public to fraud and other illegal activities perpetrated by a company, organization, or government entity. These activities, known collectively as misconduct, can take many forms, including breaking a law, rule, or safety regulation, committing fraud, endangering the public health, or taking kickback money. Whistleblowing can be either internal, where regulators or authorities inside of an organization are notified, or external, where the media or law enforcement are notified. The term "whistleblower" comes from the blowing of a police officer's whistle to alert others to criminal activity.

Since whistleblowers can be subject to reprisal by the organization they accuse, laws such as the False Claims Act have been created to protect them. Generally these laws award a proportion of any lawsuit damages earned to the whistleblower, as an incentive for their activity and as damages to protect them from reprisal consequences.

Whistleblowing is usually internal, where a person reports on another employee or superior. Having a variety of options to report activities is more likely to encourage whistleblowing, especially if the whistleblower's confidentiality can be guaranteed. External whistleblowers may report to the government, legal authorities, the media, or watchdog groups, depending on the nature of the action they have witnessed. Federal whistleblowers are only considered such if the federal employee believes their employer has violated a law, and agrees to testify or begin legal action against their employer. Whistleblowers are usually protected from retaliation under the law, although government employees do have some limitations.

While many people view whistleblowers as courageous for standing up to entities larger than themselves in the pursuit of justice, others may see them as "snitches," and only motivated by personal gain. The latter opinion may be because ethics are not often applied to business theory. Some people refuse to become whistleblowers against employers due to fears of losing their job, as well as losing workplace or personal relationships. Around the world, whistleblowers are often persecuted, being subject to mistreatment by peers as well as sanctions by workplace superiors, even though most places have laws to protect whistleblowers. In response, whistleblower support groups and legal defense funds have been created in some countries.

The first United States whistleblower protection law dates back to the 1863 Fair Claims Act. Later laws protected federal employees when giving information to the U.S. Congress, and many environmental protection and transportation laws provide for whistleblowers that alert the government to abuses on the part of their employers. United States law also provides for a time limit for whistleblowers to file civil suits for damages in response to disciplinary actions taken by former employers. Government employees may not be able to seek damages for workplace retaliation if they spoke against their employer in the course of their public duties, as part of what their job required, as a result of the Garcetti v. Ceballos Supreme Court ruling of 2006.