The Successes And Failures Of Whistleblower Laws

"A new roadmap for understanding the diverse perspectives and disparate bodies of law involved in any legal regime aimed at encouraging people in organisations to speak up about wrongdoing, making it possible for them to do so, and supporting and protecting them when they do. More than just a rich and readable history of whistleblowing laws, in the USA and around the world. Steeped in Robert Vaughn's personal experience as a lawyer and researcher over a 40 year period, this book stands to help solve some of the greatest conundrums in this vital area of legal regulation - one of the most complex in modern society, but one of the most crucial to integrity, accountability and organisational justice in all institutions. Compulsory reading for all policymakers, regulators, corporate leaders, researchers and activists engaged in improvement and implementation of public interest whistleblowing laws." - A.J. Brown, Griffith University and Transparency International Australia "Unlike other books on whistleblowing that simply describe and analyze whistleblowing laws, Robert Vaughn's new book provides an in-depth and unique historical account of the roots of the whistleblowing movement in such disparate events as the Mai Lai massacre, the civil rights movement, and the experiments of Stanley Milgrim. As important, he then uses that history to illuminate the competing perspectives and pressures that influenced the passage and interpretation of modern whistleblower laws. Vaughn provides a first-rate account of the varied and complex reasons for the successes and failures of these laws during the last forty years." - Richard Moberly, University of Nebraska College of Law, US Drawing on literature from several disciplines, this enlightening book examines the history of whistleblower laws throughout the world and provides an analytical structure for the most common debates about the nature of such laws and their potential successes and failures. The author explores the relationship between the actions of whistleblowers and the character of laws protecting them, as well as their administration and enforcement. The book considers the role of civil society groups in the successes of whistleblower laws and how current controversies reflect issues attached to these laws over half a century. This study contains perspectives from which successes and failures can be evaluated and will appeal to policy makers, scholars, whistleblower advocacy and other civil society groups, as well as anyone with a general interest in the subject.

An updated edition of the first-ever consumer guide to whistleblowing by the nation’s leading whistleblower attorney The newest edition of The Whistleblower’s Handbook brings the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to exposing workplace wrongdoing up-to-date with new information on wildlife whistleblowing, auto safety whistleblowing, national security whistleblowing, and ocean pollution whistleblowing. It also includes a new “Toolkit” for international whistleblowers. This essential guide explains nearly all federal and state laws regarding whistleblowing, and in the step-by-step bulk of the book, presents more than twenty must-follow rules for whistleblowers—from finding the best federal and state laws to the dangers of blindly trusting internal corporate “hotlines” to obtaining the proof you need to win the case.

First introduced in the United States, whistleblower laws have become increasingly popular around the world. This book illustrates the regional efforts undertaken by European organizations to promote whistleblower protection in Europe. To provide context, the first part of the book presents an overview of the international best practices for whistleblowing legislation and explores the status of whistleblower under international law. It also assesses the global hot topics regarding whistleblowing, from the cases of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange to the silencing of whistleblowers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following parts focus on the European approach to whistleblower laws. It illustrates the influence of the Council of Europe in putting whistleblower protection on the European agenda and discusses the European Court of Human Rights’ case law on whistleblowing under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the final part, the author analyzes the evolution of the European Union’s approach to whistleblowing and the legal significance of the EU Whistleblower Directive adopted in 2019. In the respective parts, the author also examines the effectiveness of the international organizations’ own internal rules on whistleblowing, from the United Nations and the World Bank Group to the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Whistleblower protection is vital for: safeguarding public interest; promoting accountability and integrity in public and private institutions; and encouraging reporting of misconduct, fraud and corruption. This report analyses whistleblower protection standards in the public and private sectors.

The book deals with the complicated relationships between national security and human rights, and between public health and human rights. Its premise is the fact that national security and public health are both included in human rights instruments as ‘exceptions’ to the human rights therein sanctioned, yet they can arguably be considered as human rights themselves and be equally valuable. The book therefore asks to what extent the protection of the individual could – or should – be overridden to enable the protection of the national security or public health of the general public. Both practice and case law have shown that human rights risk being set aside when they clash with the protection of national security or public health. Through theoretical analysis and practical examples, the book addresses the conflicts that arise when the concepts of national security and public health are used – and abused – and other rights, including freedom of speech, procedural freedoms, individual health, are violated as a consequence. It provides many interesting findings on the values that states are ready to protect – and forego – to ensure their safety, which can contribute to the ongoing debate on the protection of human rights. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

Do private and public international law coincide in their underlying objectives when it comes to their respective contribution to the realisation of global values? How do they work together towards the consistency and efficiency of the international legal order? This edited collection sets out a vision: to serve modern society, the international legal order cannot be defined as public or private. Linkages and Boundaries focuses on the interface between private and public international law and the synergies that a joint approach brings to topical issues, such as corporate social responsibility and environmental law, as well as foundational concepts such as international jurisdiction, state sovereignty and party autonomy. The book showcases the dynamic interaction between the two disciplines, with a view to contribute to a dialogue that is still only in the early stages of delivering its full potential. The collection explores ways to deepen the dialogue between these two distinct but interrelated disciplines, with a view to further their progression towards a more integrated and holistic approach to legal problems that require an international approach. The book brings together well-known experts and new voices from both disciplines and from a wide range of jurisdictions in Europe, North America and South America.

Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences offers the first in-depth analysis of the most publicized, and morally complex, case of whistleblowing in recent European history: the Norwegian national lottery, Norsk Tipping. With contributions from the whistleblower himself, as well as from key voices in the field, this book offers unique perspectives and insights into not only this fascinating case, but into whistleblowing and wrongdoing in organizations more broadly. An international team of scholars use fourteen different theoretical lenses to show the complex and multi-faceted nature of whistleblowing. The book begins with an ethnographic account by the whistleblower story and proceeds into an analysis of the literature and conceptual topics related to that whistleblowing incident to present the lessons that can be learnt from this extreme example of institutional failure. This fascinating, complex, and multi-theoretical book will be of great interest to scholars, students and industry leaders in the areas of public relations, corporate communication, leadership, corporate social responsibility, whistleblowing and organizational resistance. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book is the first of its kind to provide an in-depth treatment of the law of unauthorised disclosures in the United Kingdom. Drawing upon extensive data obtained using freedom of information as a methodology and examples from comparative jurisdictions, the book considers the position of civil servants, employees of the security and intelligence services and service personnel in the armed forces. It considers the protections available, the consequences of leaking and a full assessment of the authorised alternatives.