postheadericon Learn all about the various whistleblowing protection acts passed to protect folks who do the proper thing






by Ceith Holman


Whistleblowing Protection

On top of the incentivized activities of the governing body which are used to assist in fighting the alarming increase of fraud, the law also puts in place protection provisions for whistleblowers. This means that they can be legally protected against any reprisal or retaliation, for example termination from their employment, suspension, demotion, threats or harassment. If this occurs then whistle blowers right away have grounds for recourse. For instance if an individual was discovered to have been ended due to their whistle blowing activities then they could file a claim for damages which could cover loss of wages, emotional and unpleasant damages from losing their job and re-instatement of their position within the company (if they so desire).

Laws concerning whistleblowing in the US are extremely complex and are in a few cases, a patchwork of contradictory statutes depending upon which state you reside in. For example you have got the Whistleblower Protection Act which is known as the WPA and this was implemented in 1989 and built to protect whistle blowers who work inside Fed. agencies.

However there are particular federal departments in which this law doesn't protect and depending upon which state you are in it decrees who is and who is not covered under the WPA. Also filing a legitimate complaint for retaliation differs enormously from state to state and who you labor for.

For instance, a retaliation complaint in the State of Arizona needs to be filed within ten days to the Arizona State Personnel Board if it is to be valid, while private area staff have either 180 days or three hundred days to report their retaliation claims to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. And simply to make things even more complex, an environmental whistleblower has thirty days to lodge a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) but the same governing body gives leverage of forty five days if you are an airline worker or company crime whistleblower.

So how can you sort out all the complicated laws? The truth is that you can't- you will need to call a seasoned lawyer and tell them the specifics of your current position. It's better not to wait as there is a statute of restrictions which implies that the clock's ticking on your case, and if you don't file in the time allotted, then the case is not valid.




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