Author Archives: Steve Kardell
Church Whistleblower Regrets not Having Blown Her Whistle Stronger
Jennifer Haselberger calls the Catholic Church her home. Two relatives went into religious life. Haselberger was a canon lawyer for the archdiocese until she could no longer tolerate her warnings of sexual abuse being ignored by church officials. Haselberger says that she began complaining to church leaders about a priest in 2008. Their inaction allowed […]
Ag-gag v. Whistleblowing
On February 8, 2013, Amy Meyer went to the Dale Smith Meatpacking Company in Draper City, Utah to see where her meat comes from. She peeked through the barbed wire fence and saw a sick cow being treated like rubble. She pulled out her smartphone and began filming the scene. For her good intentions, Meyer […]
ATF Special Agent’s Whistleblowing Creates a First Amendment Showdown
What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth. Benjamin Disraeli The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) special Agent John Dodson is bringing together strange bedfellows — liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and conservatives in Congress. The ACLU has thrown […]
Was Richard Bowen’s Whistle Stuffed?
Five years have passed since Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy. Richard M. Bowen III, a former Citigroup executive who blew the whistle on their bad business practices, provided 1000 pages of documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and 28 pages of testimony to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC). Nevertheless, Bowen’s voice has not been […]
Whistleblowing in Afghanistan Allegedly Elicits Retaliatory Response
I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell. Harry S. Truman The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in September 2013 that Mike Elder proffered sufficient evidence to continue with his False Claims Act action against DRS Technologies, Inc. (DRS). Facts of […]
SEC Whistleblower Program Gets Blowing
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced August 20, 2013 that it awarded more than $25,000 in total to three whistleblowers. The SEC reports that this payment was the first installment in a series that is projected to total $125,000 for each whistleblower. Enforcement action The awards are from the SEC’s enforcement action against CEO […]
Transferring Confidential Data to IRS Earns SOX Protection for Whistleblower
Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it. Franz Kafka The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, in Vannoy v. Celanese Corporation, recently ruled in favor of a whistleblower who claimed retaliation after taking sensitive information from his employer and giving it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). While the decision indicates the […]
Retaliating Against a Nuclear Power Whistleblower
From the recent reports of retaliatory acts against whistleblowers, some wonder if the protections under the Dodd-Frank Act proscribing retribution against tipsters are known to companies and government offices. Regardless of whether a company committed fraud or other illegal acts, punishing employees who reported their suspicions is illegal. We will examine two whistleblowers who put […]
The Bed Bug Whistleblower is Awarded Back Pay
A federal court ordered S.E.M. Villa II Inc., a nonprofit corporation that operates a retirement home in Milford, Ohio, to pay a former manager $20,000 in back pay. The former manager filed a complaint with the Clermont County General Health District alleging that S.E.M. Villa II was mishandling a bedbug infestation at the retirement home. […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program Breaks Out with a $14 Million Award
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a $14 million award to a whistleblower whose tip led to an enforcement action. The whistleblower, who remains anonymous, gave original information to the SEC that enabled the agency to complete its investigation and enforce the matter in less than six months from receiving the tip. This is […]
