A whistleblower statute is a law that protects and compensates individuals who report wrongdoing that negatively impacts the government or public interest. It can be national or local and provides different types of relief. The law is designed to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and is enforced in various circumstances worldwide.
A whistleblower statute is a law passed by a government agency to protect, and sometimes compensate, a person who “whistles” from various types of wrongdoing, particularly when that wrongdoing negatively impacts the government or a particular public interest. This type of law has a long history of national implementation around the world, and in more recent years, local governments have adopted their own versions to protect public and private employees from retaliation. A whistleblower statute can be distinguished in three ways: by the type of jurisdiction, the type of relief provided, and the type of disputed action.
There are two types of jurisdiction for a whistleblower statute: national and local. An example of a national whistleblower statute is the United States False Claims Act. Passed by the federal government in 1863, the law provides protection and compensation to whistleblowers who report an attempt by a business to defraud the government. By comparison, all 50 U.S. states have adopted their own versions of a whistleblower statute to protect public and private employees from retaliation.
A whistleblower statute tends to differ in effect, depending on its jurisdiction. National statutes are typically designed to encourage a whistleblower to come forward and, as an incentive, to provide redress. The average whistleblower reward under the United States False Claims Act, for example, was $1 million in 2010. National governments rarely have the resources to identify all instances of fraud against their interests, so the government does reliance on citizens to supervise their colleagues and employers and to inform the relevant authorities of detected wrongdoing.
A local whistleblower law is normally designed to protect the citizen against workplace retaliation and rarely provides compensation as an incentive. Local laws tend to restore any privileges a whistleblower loses as a result of disclosure. They also typically provide for a private action suit so that the citizen can sue to recover damages incurred as a result of its disclosure.
In addition to differences in the type of jurisdiction and the type of remedy granted, a whistleblower statute can be distinguished from the underlying action in question. This type of law has been enforced in a wide variety of circumstances around the world, but there are six general types of torts that a whistleblower statute is usually designed to compensate for. They are fraud, environmental risks, discrimination, abuse, public safety and employment.
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