Whistleblower
Know Your Rights. Protect Yourself. Don’t Be Bullied.
If you have been retaliated against by your employer for reporting to a public body the violation of a law, regulation or rule promulgated by the State of Michigan, or because you were requested by a public body to participate in an investigation held by that public body or in a court action, you may be a whistleblower.
Corruption
The United Nations Convention on Corruption, which has been ratified by 140 countries, recognizes protection for whistleblowers. The Council of Europe’s anticorruption convention, which is binding on all forty European countries, also mandates legal protection for whistleblowers.
Michigan Whistleblowers
Michigan, like many other states, has a Whistleblower Protection Act [WPA]. Michigan’s WPA provides that a successful plaintiff can recover attorney fees.
45% of American Workers Witness Fraud or Misconduct at Work.
In 2011, the National Business Ethics Survey reported that 45% of American workers had evidence of fraud or misconduct.
Employees who reported these activities were once persecuted and ridiculed. Today, however, and sometimes at great personal risk, ordinary people are exercising their rights as citizens in a democracy and choosing to do the right thing.
As a result, public opinion is changing: Recently Time magazine honored three whistelblowers as ‘persons of the year’.