From the US Presidency to Congress … From Penn State to the Catholic Church … From Enron to Haliburton… all of these powerful institutions and businesses have allegedly attempted to cover up shady practices, incompetence, gross misconduct and other shenanigans. Most disturbing, these unacceptable activities continued unabated while employees, members and/or leaders had knowledge of these wrongdoings.
Obviously, bad behavior is not confined to large organizations. Small and mid-sized firms are also damaged by misguided acts of employees or leaders. The damage is often intensified when those “in the know” choose to keep quiet.
The question: Why do respectable folks turn a blind eye and keep such secrets? Is it fear that keeps them quiet? Why are whistle blowers so few and far between?
The fact is, most people don’t like to rock the boat because they have something to lose, be it income, fame, friendship, or reputation.
But do these secret-keepers fully consider the potential consequences — sometimes awful — of their decision to remain silent? And are they aware of the full scope of measures that are in place to protect them?
From a business perspective, most large organizations have a code of conduct manual which outlines the procedures for reporting wrongdoings in the workplace however, illegal activities should always be brought to the proper law enforcement authorities.
Legally, whistle blower laws provide encouragement and protection in the workplace. Currently, more than half the states in the US have these laws on the books. There are also numerous federal laws and regulations. The key to most of these laws is that they prohibit retaliation against whistle blowers.
Given today’s job market, it’s difficult for employees to put their job security at risk by reporting wrongdoings in the workplace. And the unfortunate reality is that, very often, an organizations reputation is put above that of individual victim(s). It takes a lot of strength and faith in the system to do the right thing.
The best advice? Deal with work-related wrong-doings NOW to ensure that the outcome of the situation is not made worse by hesitating. Also, keep in mind that one major weakness in many statutory whistleblower protection laws is the short statute of limitations for whistleblower cases. Yet another reason to act immediately.
An excellent resource for would-be whistle blowers: the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC). It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting employees’ lawful disclosure of waste, fraud, and abuse. Visit HYPERLINK “http://www.whistleblowers.org” http://www.whistleblowers.org/ for more information, including answers to legal questions and a full list of appropriate legal representation, if required.
If you have any advice, insight or encouragement on this subject, please chime in!