Origin Energy Employees Volunteer as Witnesses in Whistleblower Case

A former employee of Origin Energy has filed a whistleblower claim against the Australian company, alleging it organized a cover-up of some extremely serious compliance failures at many of its gas and oilfields. Now, at least 20 other current and former employees of the energy giant have come forward and offered to become witnesses in the case.

Of those employees who have come forward, at least seven are members of Origin’s own compliance team, while five are members of an audit team. Others include representatives of the company’s operations team, risk management team and health safety and environment team.

Details of the offense

According to the complaint, the plaintiff was ordered by her direct superior, the manager of compliance and regulatory change for integrated gas, to delete existing evidence of Origin’s lack of compliance. Upon receiving these instructions, she emailed the general manager for health safety and environment to alert the proper authorities of the cover-up. The person in this position asked the plaintiff to send him a copy of the orders she received, which she did. Approximately a month and a half later, she was informed that the allegations could not be proven.

The employee reportedly continued to attempt to raise awareness of the issue, going so far as to writing to the chairman of the company about ongoing compliance failures. However, no action was taken — even after an internal audit resulted in the second-worst possible grade for the company’s upstream gas and oil division.

If an employee reports any type of wrongdoing within your organization, it’s important to take the necessary steps to investigate. For further guidance, speak with a skilled Dallas attorney at Whistleblower Law for Managers.