We often hear about what happens to whistleblowers after they attempt to address wrongdoing within their workplace with people within the workplace who could help them to do so. Whistleblowers often experience retaliation in varying degrees, including mistreatment within the workplace, termination, and continued bullying and harassment from people affiliated with their workplace even after they get fired.
In addition to bringing attention to the effects of retaliation on whistleblowers, it is important that we pay attention to what can happen in regards to the wrongdoing that caused the whistleblowers to speak up in the first place. In some cases, the wrong that is exposed by a whistleblower gets addressed and remedied. The ways in which this can happen are, of course, as varied as the wrongs that get exposed.
One thing that can happen after a corporation’s illegal actions are brought to light by a whistleblower is litigation. You may already be aware that a whistleblower brought attention to the cost and construction estimation debacle that is the Kemper “clean coal” power plant project in Kemper County, Mississippi. The whistleblower believed that Southern Company put a positive spin on some very negative facts regarding construction progress and cost projections for the power plant because the company knew that investors would panic if they became aware that the project was in danger of losing federal subsidies because of the delays in completing the project.
Southern Company’s “positive spin” that it presented to investors may have gone so far as to result in violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Recently, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of shareholders who purchased Southern Company securities during the period from April 25, 2012, to October 29, 2013. The complaint alleges that Southern Company did not disclose construction setbacks to its investors, even though those delays would prevent the project from being completed by a deadline that the company had announced previously. When the delays and the associated cover-up were disclosed, the value of the company’s stock declined.
Barrett Law PLLC: Protecting Mississippi Whistleblowers
The filing of a class action lawsuit for investors in the Kemper “clean coal” project is just one example of what kinds of things can happen after a whistleblower sheds light on corporate wrongdoing. Investors trust the information that the companies that they have invested in give to them, and when the information that they get is not truthful, the investors’ financial well-being is placed at risk without their knowledge. It is important that corporate misconduct like this is brought to the attention of regulators and the public so that it can be addressed. This is why whistleblowers play such an important role. Whistleblowers take a risk in exposing the wrongs that they bring to light, and they often suffer personally after they have done so. If you have experienced retaliation as the result of your actions as a whistleblower, the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC might be able to help you. Call us today, at 1 (800) 707-9577 to set up an initial consultation.
