Morehead Dworkin, Terry --- "US Whistleblowing: A Decade of Progress?" [2010] ELECD 544; in Lewis, B. David (ed), "A Global Approach to Public Interest Disclosure" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: A Global Approach to Public Interest Disclosure

Editor(s): Lewis, B. David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448995

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: US Whistleblowing: A Decade of Progress?

Author(s): Morehead Dworkin, Terry

Number of pages: 20

Extract:

4. US whistleblowing: a decade of
progress?
Professor Terry Morehead Dworkin

INTRODUCTION

The past decade has seen a growth in the United States in both legislators'
attempts to enlist whistleblowers in controlling organizational wrong-
doing and, to that end, to encourage observers of wrongdoing to come
forward and report it. Public awareness of whistleblowing has also become
widespread, although there are many misperceptions about it. One of the
most important of these is that there are laws that effectively protect them
if they report.1 As will be seen below, this is often untrue. Since every state
now has at least one whistleblowing law (and most have several), and these
laws differ, as do the numerous federal laws, only a broad overview is pos-
sible here. This chapter will explore the major recent developments in US
whistleblowing law, why the laws are so often ineffective in achieving their
goals, and suggest some changes that should help make them more effec-
tive. It will focus on three significant developments: dealing with financial
fraud, rewards as a spur to whistleblowing, and protection for public
employee whistleblowers.


WHISTLEBLOWING AND FINANCIAL FRAUD

Sarbanes-Oxley

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) represents a reification by the
United States Congress of the importance of whistleblowing in the control,
detection, and deterrence of wrongdoing. It follows the dramatic growth
of state and federal whistleblowing laws in the 1980s and 1990s, along with
a growing hostility and distrust of big business and government. However,
it was the ...