A Global Approach to Public Interest Disclosure: What Can We Learn from Existing Whistleblowing Legislation and Research?

190 Pages·2010·1.455 MB·English

by  David B. Lewis

A Global Approach to Public Interest
Disclosure

A Global Approach to
Public Interest
Disclosure
What can we learn from existing
whistleblowing legislation and research?
Edited by
David B. Lewis
Professor of Employment Law, Middlesex University, UK
Edward Elgar
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
© David B. Lewis 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009943919
ISBN 978 1 84844 899 5
Printed and bound by MPG Books Group, UK
3
0
Contents
List of fi gures vi
List of tables vii
List of contributors viii
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
Professor David B. Lewis
2 Ten years of employment protection for whistleblowers in the
UK: a view from the Employment Appeal Tribunal 7
His Honour Judge Jeremy McMullen QC
3 European whistleblower protection: tiers or tears? 15
Dr Wim Vandekerckhove
4 US whistleblowing: a decade of progress? 36
Professor Terry Morehead Dworkin
5 The Australian legislative experience 56
Peter Roberts and Professor A.J. Brown
6 When do observers of organizational wrongdoing step up?
Recent US research on the factors associated with
whistleblowing 74
Professors Marcia P. Miceli and Janet P. Near
7 Loyalty and whistleblowing in Norway: how roles come into
play 91
Dr Marit Skivenes and Dr Sissel Trygstad
8 Speaking truth to power: the whistleblower as organizational
citizen in South Africa 109
Professor Tina Uys
9 ‘Whistle while you work’: lessons to be learned from the pan-
Australian research 128
Professor Paul Mazerolle and Dr Peter Cassematis
10 Conclusion 159
Professor David B. Lewis
Index 167
v
Figures
3.1 The three- tiered whistleblower protection model 17
7.1 Responses from the three Norwegian studies 99
9.1 Gender diff erence in report status (%) 136
9.2 Relative position of the wrongdoer by report status (%) 136
9.3 Age and tenure by report status 137
9.4 Trust and job satisfaction by report status 138
9.5 Organizational citizenship behaviour by report status 138
9.6 Whistleblowing propensity by report status 139
9.7 Relative position of the wrongdoer by gender (%) 141
9.8 Relative position of the wrongdoer by age 142
9.9 Relative position of the wrongdoer by trust in management 143
9.10 Relative position of the wrongdoer by job satisfaction 144
9.11 Relative position of the wrongdoer by social context 144
vi
Tables
3.1 Overview of fi rst- and second- tier bodies for European
whistleblowers 27
3.2 European whistleblowing legislation in the three- tiered model 29
3.3 Other European countries’ position on whistleblower
protection 30
5.1 Australian public sector public interest disclosure legislation,
in date order 58
5.2 Average procedure evaluation scores for jurisdictions 64
6.1 Incidence of perceived wrongdoing 79
6.2 Incidence of whistleblowing 80
7.1 Correlation analysis of organizational well- being and the six
statements in the vignette 106
7.2 Linear regression analysis. Dependent variable: it was the
right thing to do, and I would have done the same 107
9.1 Regression analysis summary for demographic, work attitude
and relative position of the wrongdoer predicting
treatment by management 147
9.2 Regression analysis summary for demographic, work attitude
and relative position of the wrongdoer predicting treatment
by co- workers 149
9.3 Regression analysis summary for demographic, work
attitude, treatment by management and relative position
of the wrongdoer predicting treatment by co- workers 151
vii
Contributors
Professor A.J. Brown, Griffi th University, Queensland
Dr Peter Cassematis, Griffi th University, Queensland
Professor Terry Morehead Dworkin, Seattle University
Professor David B. Lewis, Middlesex University
Professor Paul Mazerolle, Griffi th University, Queensland
His Honour Judge Jeremy McMullen QC, Senior Judge, Employment
Appeal Tribunal and Visiting Professor, Middlesex University
Professor Marcia P. Miceli, Georgetown University
Professor Janet P. Near, Indiana University
Peter Roberts, Charles Sturt University, Canberra
Dr Marit Skivenes, University of Bergen
Dr Sissel Trygstad, Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, Oslo
Professor Tina Uys, University of Johannesburg
Dr Wim Vandekerckhove, Greenwich University
viii
Preface
It is worth noting that the manuscript for this book is being submitted in
the same month as the twenty- fi fth anniversary of the world’s worst indus-
trial disaster. This took place in Bhopal, India and is estimated to have
led to the deaths of over 20 000 people with a further 80 000 still aff ected
by the aftermath. As in other major accidents, safety risks and defects had
been reported well before the gas explosion occurred but those responsible
chose not to deal with them. While it is not claimed that whistleblower
protection laws would have prevented this catastrophe, it is asserted that
eff ective confi dential reporting policies and procedures which provide for
external disclosures of information where appropriate can play a signifi -
cant role in disaster management. It is hoped that this book will stimulate
further debate about the value of, and mechanisms for, establishing a
whistleblowing culture in modern society.
David Lewis
16 December 2009
ix