Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Can SEC Whistleblowers Endorse The Whistleblower Protection Act?

By Bob Oliver


SEC whistleblowers are fortunate in that they have certain guidelines which work to protect them. When they address certain cases or draw attention for legal purposes, they can rest easy knowing that they will be safeguarded. With this in mind, I believe that it's important to go over what the Whistleblower Protection Act is all about. Hopefully, with these ideas in the back of your mind, you'll start to see why this is so important to discuss.

For those who are curious, the Whistleblower Protection Act is specifically designed to help workers within the federal government. Specifically, they can draw attention to illegal activity and not be fired because of said actions. To say that this can alleviate much of the burden from SEC whistleblowers would be putting it lightly. However, I think that there's more to discuss, as I am sure authorities such as Whistleblowers Against Fraud would attest to as well.

The WPA was passed, by U.S. Congress, in 1989 and this was a protective measure for SEC whistleblowers. It made it so that the aforementioned individuals could not be punished or even retaliated against for drawing attention to legal issues. If they were, the WPA - in addition to its various guidelines - would come into the picture. Of course, there are still issues which involve these men and women losing their jobs. You may wonder why this problem continues to exist.

I believe that part of it comes from the idea that some SEC whistleblowers do not understand the extent of their rights. They know how to draw attention to federal problems, yes, but do they know about the rules which serve to protect them? It's unlikely that everyone does, which means that there should be attempts made to educate themselves. If these are seen, there's no doubt that the WPA will be a point to cover in detail.

As you can see, punishment should not be an issue when it comes to the idea of federal stability. There are certain actions which are illegal, meaning that attention should be drawn to them. However, when there's the looming possibility of punishment, either through termination of jobs or otherwise, it's clear that there is uncertainty to be had. With this in mind, you can clearly see why the WPA is not only useful but required.




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