Whistleblowers: Don't Shoot the Messenger

Before starting my internship at Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, a D.C. law firm that specializes in whistleblower law, my knowledge of whistleblowers was limited to what I had seen in an episode of Arrested Development. In the episode entitled "Whistler's Mother," Michael (Jason Bateman) receives a large amount of money to invest on behalf of his real estate company. Pestered by his corrupt family to use the money illegally, Michael passes out whistles to all of the company board members and urges them to "blow the whistle" when they witness someone breaking company policy. The board members love blowing the whistles so much that they look for every opportunity to accuse a fellow co-worker of wrongdoing. Tired of all the racket, Michael demands the return of the whistles a mere 20 minutes later. The message? Whistleblowers are obnoxious tattletales.

Is this television depiction of whistleblowers correct? Who are whistleblowers? A study conducted in 2006 reported that the average whistleblower is a family man in his forties with high moral values. Whistleblowers speak out against illegal activity in the workplace. They report crimes ranging from Medicare fraud to environmental contamination to the mishandling of evidence by the FBI Crime Lab. As a result of their disclosures, whistleblowers often face retaliation by their employers. They lose their jobs and their homes. They go bankrupt. They file for divorce. They seek psychiatric or physical care. Because of the extreme amount of stress that whistleblowers experience, any attorney will tell you that whistleblower clients are some of the most difficult to work with on a case.

Fun fact: The False Claims Act, perhaps the most effective piece of whistleblower legislation ever passed, was introduced by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. During the Civil War, contractors sold the government weak mules, faulty guns, bad ammunition, and rotten provisions. To prevent this kind of fraud against the government, Lincoln created the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act, also known as the "Lincoln Law," allows individuals to sue fraudulent contractors or companies on behalf of the government. The Qui tam provision of this law permits the relator (a legal term for the person representing the government) to recover a portion of the money awarded in a successful lawsuit. The possibility of award money provides incentive for whistleblowers to report criminal activity at work.

A Few Famous Whistleblowers:

• Daniel Ellsburg: Leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret account of the Vietnam War, to The New York Times in 1971.
  
• Linda Tripp: A former White House staff member who revealed that Bill Clinton committed perjury for denying his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.
  
• Frederic Whitehurst: The first modern-day FBI whistleblower. He reported serious flaws in the FBI laboratory as well as the faulty analytical methods used in investigations for the Oklahoma City bombing case and the World Trade Center bombing case.
  
• Cynthia Cooper, Sherry Watkins: Exposed corporate scandals at WorldCom and Enron. Named Time Magazine's People of the Year in 2002.
  
• Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse: Exposed illegal no-bid Halliburton contracts for reconstruction in Iraq.