National Whistleblower Appreciation Day Promotes an Important Issue

This year, the National Whistleblower Center declared July 30 to be National Whistleblower Appreciation Day. The organization received a great deal of support on its Facebook page when it made the announcement, although some did note that whistleblowers continue to face challenges across the country.

Overall, the past several years have seen some big wins for whistleblowers, receiving expanded rights and more incentives through the Dodd-Frank Act and other measures at the federal level. Now, whistleblowers who voluntarily provide information to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) may receive big awards, including up to 30 percent of the total sanctions levied against the organization found to be in violation of the law.

Protecting the rights of whistleblowers

Despite all of the progress that has been made, there are still some key legal pitfalls that may be keeping people from blowing the whistle on wrongdoing within their organizations, and potential whistleblowers are too often kept silence because they believe they could be fired or otherwise punished for speaking out. This is a real problem, as corporate internal investigations often end up targeting and discrediting whistleblower, rather than actually addressing the issue at hand.

With this in mind, it’s absolutely critical for you to retain legal counsel if you would like to serve as a whistleblower to expose unethical or criminal behavior within your company. For the sound legal guidance and advice you need, speak with a skilled Dallas attorney at Whistleblower Law for Managers today.