famous whistleblowing cases uk

These whistleblowers inform agencies about the wrong doings in companies that can prevent not only loss of money but in some cases it can also save precious lives. In 2021, she raised concerns about environmental contamination at her office in. In what the CQC described as an unforgivable error of judgement, no action was taken. Spoke out to the Financial Times about a culture of secrecy, harassment, retaliation, hostility, and sexism. They also alleged inaction, toxicity, and apathy from HR and management. Uber whistleblower: We had easy access to power Video, 00:03:22, Uber whistleblower: We had easy access to power, 5 Minutes On. 23 June 2022. But when the fraud was linked to the Japanese mafia, Woodford realised his problems were only just beginning. Mr Simpson was dismissed because it had become utterly impossible for his colleagues on his team to work with him; the lack of trust between them was corrosive and ultimately insuperable and he had a poor attendance record. I truly believed I may be prosecuted for simply telling the truth and trying to expose the neglect of the authorities.. Stephen Kerr, the Conservative MP for Stirling who chairs the group, said whistle-blowers must be "treasured" as they are the "first line of defence against crime, corruption and cover-up". A book chapter which discusses the whistleblowing, written by Vivian Weil, was published in 1983 as "The Browns Ferry Case" in. Charlotte Emerson | Feb 10th, 2023. You have to remember, companies dont sack someone for blowing the whistle, Templeton says. Yet, in the wake of his death, a vast pension fraud was revealed. Filed charges with the NLRB which were found to be valid and settled for undisclosed terms. These whistleblower reward laws include: the federal False Claims Act; State False Claims Acts; the Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program; and . Whether the oversight of commissioners by NHS England and the CQC fit for purpose. Since 2009 he has been collaborating with numerous European nations by providing information relating to more than 130,000 suspected tax evaders with Swiss bank accountsspecifically those with accounts in HSBC's Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank. And yet, this year's World Whistleblowers Day comes with a sobering reminder that our . For Harry Templeton, who initially blew the whistle on this in 1988, the revelations came too late. NSA Whistleblower Perhaps one of the most famous NSA whistleblowers is Edward Snowden. "Morally I knew it was right," she told the BBC. Mark today is counted among the most famous whistleblowers. We dealt with the unfairness of being sacked for blowing the whistle. In 2016, he was convicted of theft, receiving a 12-month suspended sentence and a fine of 1,500. Whistleblowers can be disadvantaged by their ex-employers actions even after leaving employment, and may be able to bring detriment claims, but demonstrating causation is difficult. In 2017, HSBC had to pay $ 300 million to the French authorities. As an APPG, we are committed to bringing forward root and branch reform that protects every person from the mistreatment whistleblowers are currently subjected to. Louise ONeill at Protect helped secure these interviews. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of theTerms and Conditions. Glenn Walp and Steven L. Doran were hired to investigate allegations of fraud at the University of California's Los Alamos National Laboratory. [324][325] Wilkinson's name was illegally leaked a few days later. Ethics & Compliance Training: 8 Things Your Board Needs to Know. Judges are not classed as workers, and so aren't entitled to the legal protections usually given to whistleblowers. He was bullied by a senior director, who demanded that he approve the invoice. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, ordered an investigation and the Investigator General of Intelligence and Security (. And earlier this year Anahid Kassabian, a former music professor at Liverpool university, broke her NDA during a BBC investigation to speak out about alleged disability discrimination. Famous Whistleblowers in recent history Whistleblowers have become an important part of America's legal landscape. Our Advice Line is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays: 9:30am - 1pm, 2pm - 5:30pm; Wednesdays and Fridays: 9:30am - 1pm. Although Felts identity as Deep Throat was strongly suspected by many, it was kept a secret for over 30 years and wasnt publicly admitted until 2005. Among these are the "jueteng" (illegal numbers game) scandal, the presence of illegal drugs and high-powered firearms at the Bureau of Corrections, and the escape of the Reyes brothers via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Kruszewski became aware of inadequate care and the exploiting of state-committed mentally ill children through overmedication and physical and, Paul Jayko was an Environmental Specialist for the, James J. Bobreski blew the whistle on the D.C. Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) in 1999 while working at the. Appalled, the Continental Congress then enacted in 1778 the nation's first whistleblower protection law by unanimous consent, authorized money to defend the two men and ordered that Hopkins be fired. But I do often say probably not. Sanni advises those who have had any minor or major mental illness, particularly people of colour, to think twice before whistleblowing. [177] Watkins also submitted comments in August 2019 about the SEC's proposed amendments to their whistleblower program. If the treatment is seen as damaging by the Claimant (and is reasonably so), then it is a detriment. Recent cases of Japanese corporate wrongdoing have involved fraudulent testing of car emissions and fuel economy, falsification of data for a public project to . E&Y did not offer him an alternative role and requested that he returned to work in Dubai. As a whistleblower you should not be treated unfairly or lose your job for speaking out. Known as a tiremaker today, Goodrich produced airplane wheels and other parts in the 1960s. The group was set up last summer in the wake of the Gosport Memorial Hospital scandal. Keith A. Schooley, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, INC. United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, whistleblowing is an employee raising a concern about an alleged wrongdoing including corrupt, illegal or unethical behaviours in a public or. Samuel Provance was an army intelligence soldier who blew the whistle on a cover-up involving abuses at Abu Ghraib. 2.1 Protection of Sources and Whistleblowers in International Law A growing number of international instruments recognise the importance of whistleblowers and require or encourage states to adopt measures to protect disclosure. "I would advise anyone thinking of whistleblowing to keep a record of all conversations and supporting paperwork and emails, to use a confidential reporting line if possible, and if the issue is a crime, not to delay reporting it to the police," she said. The U.S. government was less impressed with Snowdens actions and they subsequently brought charges against him for espionage and theft of government property. Some of the most famous examples of whistleblowers who were not protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act are Edward Snowden and John Kirakou. Whistleblowing experiences from the Advice Line. The documents declared there to be 15,000 more civilian deaths than the U.S. government had previously admitted to. Testified at. Taken separately or grouped together, none of Mr Simpsons alleged disclosures could amount to a protected disclosure. He found faults in the Chevrolet Cavalier and the Chevrolet Cobalt, and repeatedly reported them, with little response. Julian Assange launched the whistle-blowing organisation back in 2006 and since then it has become known for publishing news leaks and classified information on its website. Andrew Maguire As a British commodities trader, Maguire became a world-famous whistleblower when he informed regulators in the US that fraud was taking place in the international gold and silver markets. Exposed a fraud scheme misleading investors into thinking they had working EVs. Possibly the most famous case of whistleblowing, In the early 1970s Mark Felt leaked highly classified documents to two young journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein at the Washington Post, in . The Court of Appeal clarified that the frame of mind of the (ex) employer does not matter when deciding whether or not something is a detriment. A former United States Customs Service employee who exposed rampant racial profiling against Black travellers while working at, An Iranian physician who reported on the state use of, Former Pfizer sales representative and West Point graduate, Claimed corruption among Belarusian police; charged with bribery and fraud in 2009; became a, Andrew Maguire is a British commodities trader and whistleblower. This is an active learning strategy, which can be introduced after students have had the benefit of participating in case study analysis. Four months later, the company went bankrupt and had to seek bankruptcy protection. Here are two famous examples of whistleblowing in the workplace and how they have contributed to improving our workplaces: Unsafe working environments for employees. My conscience wouldnt let me not. Protect is a registered Charity No.1025557. "Cases that are listed as 'under . SwissLeaks. The judge said: If the employer can show that the reason he took the action which caused the detriment had nothing to do with the making of the protected disclosure, or that this was only a trivial factor in his reasoning, he will not be liable. Howard Shaw, a former detective sergeant at the Metropolitan Police, describes his experience as a whistleblower as a lonely two years. Even so, he still insists he would whistleblow again. The judgment is not binding and is, of course, fact specific. ", "Former SEC Whistleblower Gary Aguirre Gets Vindication For His Pursuit Of John Mack", "Barus Award for Outstanding Service in the Public Interest", "Report of the Investigation on Allegations Referred by the Joint Inspection Unit Concerning Mr. Kamil Idris", "Dating Yourself: Fear and frustration in Geneva", "Jenkins 011102 WTC vs Libby | Nature | Superfund", "E.P.A. If judges, the most privileged people in the country, cant speak out, then who can? says Gilham, who feels a sense of responsibility for those less able to speak out. They were fired after they exposed breaches of security as well as fraud and mismanagement to the Department of Energy. He was stationed in Samarra, Iraq in June 2003 with the California National Guard's 223rd Military Intelligence (M.I.) She is adamant that she would be prepared to blow the whistle again. By interacting with the groups victims nearly every day for six months, Oliver gradually gained the trust of the vulnerable girls. The Vietnam War is one of the episodes the American forces would like to forget. Auditor Mr Rihan was awarded USD10.8 million in damages after being forced out of his job when he blew the whistle on an unprofessional and unethical audit of a Dubai gold refiner. Read about our approach to external linking. In total, Magnitsky served 358 days in Moscow's notorious Butyrka prison. Now chief compliance officer at Joules Africa, Shaw blew the whistle after alleging that a former colleague cheated in a job interview that led to his promotion. The League paid Mr Casamitjana a substantial sum to settle the case and a Leagues spokesperson said: Having revisited the issue we now accept that Mr Casamitjana did nothing wrong with such communications, which were motivated by his belief in ethical veganism. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Cynthia Gabriel . Protect's Whistleblowers case studies. Templeton, a printer for the Mirror Group newspapers, sat on the board of trustees for the Mirrors pension scheme. One of my principal disclosures was made in real time at the beginning of the night shift, he remembers. This case helps to further clarify the law on what is a disclosure of information. Keith A. Schooley, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, INC. Defendant-Appellee. In days gone by, rules and regulations governing health and safety in the workplace were very . What matters is the effect of the treatment. In March 2011, the former HMRC solicitor contacted the National Audit Office, revealing a sweetheart deal between HMRC and the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. Registered as a Company limited by guarantee in England No. They were defeated both politically and militarily by the Viet guerrillas. Robert J. McCarthy, Blowing in the Wind: Answers for Federal Whistleblowers, 3 WILLIAM & MARY POLICY REVIEW 184 (2012); Robert J. McCarthy, Taking the Stand: Why Federal Whistleblowers are Unprotected from Retaliation, The District of Columbia Bar: WASHINGTON LAWYER (October 2012);Robert J. McCarthy, Executive Authority, Adaptive Treaty Interpretation, and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S.-Mexico, 14-2 U. Denv. Its about ensuring that our democracy is retained.. Once youve crossed that bridge, theres no going back.. Our Manifesto. Protected disclosure & whistleblowing. Whistle blowing is a courageous act of reporting misdoings of other people. To mark the 25th anniversary of the whistleblowing charity Protect (formerly known as Public Concern at Work) we focus on 12 people who have taken great personal risk to expose everything from warmongers to tax dodgers and sexual and physical abuse. Ford was judged mentally unstable by an Army psychiatrist and renditioned to Landstuhl, Germany to receive further psychological evaluation. Another case is Rokiah Mohd Noor V. MPDNKKM & Ors And Another Appeal [2016] 8 CLJ 635, where the whistleblowers were not protected under the WPA because they had not made the disclosure to any . document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) When it comes to whistle-blowers, no one embodies the hero vs. villain debate more than the Australian founder and director of WikiLeaks. Valrie Murat, a founder and spokesperson for "Alerte aux Toxiques!" WASHINGTON, DC - Two whistleblowers represented by Phillips & Cohen LLP provided the government with overwhelming evidence that was at the heart of the government's case against GlaxoSmithKline whose global headquarters are in London, UK and the record-setting $3 billion settlement announced today. Working in family courts, she witnessed hostage-taking and violence, and was even alerted by the police that someone was threatening to kill her. Many of the multinational companies involved had managed to reduce their tax to near zero by developing complex strategies with the Grand Duchy. Whistleblowing in established firms. A year later, he raised a concern that the Dean had told him to give a pass mark to students who had been found cheating. Carrie Penman | Feb 13th, 2023. Georgina Halford-Hall, chief executive of the support network WhistleblowersUK, said people who spoke out were being "priced out of justice". By recognising me, theyre making out that theyre open. Trade union rights given a boost. The individuals below brought attention to abuses of government or large corporations. We use cookies, including cookies that collect information on how you use our website. The data leak was denounced by Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourgs finance minister, as the worst attack ever experienced by his country. The Claimant was concerned that teachers, including himself, were working in excess of "statutory directed time". Despite his ordeal, he is able to see the positives: I have paid dearly in terms of my career so far, but the peace of mind I have enjoyed is priceless., In 2013, Mba received the equivalent of three years salary and pension contribution in a compromise agreement. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Sake brewers toast big rise in global sales, The Indian-American CEO who wants to be US president, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Accused Parliament members of invalid expense claims. Shinkwin is keen to emphasise that the Royal British Legion is a different place today. The key question in this case was whether Mrs Griffiths situation was comparable to that of a worker. Later initiated arbitration for discrimination and retaliation with whistleblower status. Initially, she was encouraged to speak out, but gradually support for her waned. At times I felt I was in Alice in Wonderland and I questioned my sanity. [269][270], [293] Eli Lilly pleaded guilty to actively promoting Zyprexa for off-label uses, particularly for the treatment of dementia in the elderly. "Not a week goes by when whistleblowing is not making headlines around the world exposing one major tragedy or scandal after another Cambridge Analytica or the Rotherham grooming gangs," they said. Whistleblowing Cases | CIPD Explore this selection of key cases, reported since 2011, on whistleblowing, including a summary of the decision and implications for employers. Sannis interview revealed that Vote Leave were close to exceeding their 7m spending budget. Mick McAteer, co-director at the Financial Inclusion Centre, a policy and . Legal advice for whistleblower litigants in person is especially necessary. Antoine Deltour, formerly with PricewaterhouseCoopers. The first detriment was in 2016 when a new contract was imposed on him. Other significant leaks have followed in the years since including information regarding Guantanamo Bay, toxic waste dumping and U.S. agencies spying on foreign governments. Mr Jesudason, a paediatric surgeon, blew the whistle about medical practices in the hospital Trust he worked at from 2006 to 2012. [CDATA[// >