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6 Liberty U. L. Rev. 51 (2011-2012)
Whistleblower Rights and Protections: Critiquing Federal Whistleblower Laws and Recommending Filling in Missing Pieces to Form a Beautiful Patchwork Quilt

handle is hein.journals/lunlr6 and id is 53 raw text is: WHISTLEBLOWER RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS: CRITIQUING FEDERAL WHISTLEBLOWER LAWS AND RECOMMENDING FILLING IN MISSING PIECES TO FORM A BEAUTIFUL PATCHWORK QUILT Joel D Hesch*± I. INTRODUCTION Until recently, whistleblowers were viewed negatively and even with hostility, suffering labels like snitch, tattle tale, or lowlife.' Corporate culture demanded loyalty, regardless of what harm resulted. As an at will employee, a whistleblower who dared speak out against an employer risked not only losing a job, but forever being blackballed from the industry. Because whistleblowers had few protections, remaining silent was the norm.2 Even within the ranks of government workers, whistleblowing was taboo. More than thirty years ago, a Senate Report found that federal employees are currently afraid to bring problems to the attention of their superiors. Silencing whistleblowers, however, has its own dark side, which can lead to dangerous perils and even death. For instance, in late 2000, Firestone * Joel D. Hesch is an Associate Professor of Law, Liberty University School of Law; J.D., The Catholic University of America, 1988. From 1990 through mid-2006, Mr. Hesch was a trial attorney with the Civil Fraud Section of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., the office responsible for nationwide administration of the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA). He is also the author of WHISTLEBLOWING: A GUIDE TO GOVERNMENT REWARD PROGRAMS (HOW TO COLLECT MILLION DOLLAR REWARDS FOR REPORTING FRAUD) (2009); REWARD: COLLECTING MILLIONS FOR REPORTING TAX EVASION (A GUIDE TO THE IRS WHISTLEBLOWER REWARD PROGRAM) (2009); and Restating the Original Source Exception to the False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar, 1 LIBERTY U. L. REV. 111 (2006). ± Mr. Hesch extends a special note of thanks to his research assistant, Paul E. DiTomasso (J.D. 2011), who provided valuable assistance in researching and writing this Article. 1. TERANCE MIETHE, WHISTLEBLOWING AT WORK: TOUGH CHOICES IN EXPOSING FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE ON THE JOB 11-12 (1999). 2. Id. at 33. 3. STAFF OF S. COMM. ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 95TH CONG., THE WHISTLEBLOWERS 49 (Comm. Print 1978).

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