Should Whistleblowers Get A Reward?

March 24th, 2011 / John Schilling / 0 comments

The federal False Claims Act entitles the whistleblower to a 15 to 30% reward of the monies recovered in a fraud settlement.   The Christian Science Monitor recently looks into this question in their article “Bigger bonuses for Whistleblowers:  Are they ethical?”  http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0323/Bigger-bonuses-for-whistle-blowers-Are-they-ethical

Being a whistleblower myself I support the rewards that are given to whistleblowers.  I have found most whistleblowers I have talked with didn’t blow the whistle to make money, they did it to right a wrong.   Many times the whistleblower has brought the fraudulent issues to company management only to be ignored.  Whistleblowers have a moral compass to do the right thing so when all attempts to make corrections within an organization are ignored the whistleblower can’t remain silent.

Whistleblowers deserve any reward they receive as they put their careers in jeopardy for doing the right thing.   Our society tends to frown upon whistleblowers when they should be embraced.   Corporate America should welcome whistleblowers and not speak out that whistleblowers are troubled employees.   Those that oppose whistleblowers and whistleblower rewards are likely not to have the same ethical standards of a whistleblower.

Whistleblowers are truly american heroes and should be embraced by all!