The holiday season is often associated with expressions of gratitude and thankfulness for the things in our lives that are good. Some of the good things in our lives are the result of the efforts of whistleblowers. Over the course of American history, whistleblowers have stepped forward and taken action to protect others by exposing government and corporate misconduct, often at a high cost to themselves and their families. As we give thanks this holiday season, let’s remember some of the ways that whistleblowers have improved the lives of Americans throughout history by standing up to America’s powerful corporations.
In 1974, Karen Silkwood died under mysterious circumstances after she testified before the Atomic Energy Commission regarding plutonium contamination in her body that occurred while she was working in a Kerr- McGee nuclear plant. Silkwood reported health and safety violations and described working conditions that had exposed her and her co-workers to dangerous radiation. At the time of her death, Karen Silkwood was preparing to go public with more evidence of her experience. Other nuclear-plant workers, including the GE-Three, reported unsafe conditions at other nuclear facilities and testified before Congress. The work done by nuclear power plant whistleblowers led to improvements in workplace safety for nuclear power plant workers.
Public knowledge about the dark side of cigarette manufacturing came about because Jeffrey Wigand spoke up despite threats to his life. Wigand appeared on 60 Minutes. During his interview, he said that the tobacco firm where he worked as a VP for research and development, Brown & Williamson, purposefully manipulated the level of nicotine in its cigarettes to make it more likely that smokers would become addicted to their product.
A pair of courageous women, Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins, exposed fraudulent accounting at two giant corporations. As a result of the women’s efforts to expose the accounting frauds that they had witnessed, Worldcom and Enron both ended up in bankruptcy.
Some of the whistleblowers that have exposed fraud are less well known than the more widely publicized whistleblowers who were involved in situations with big-name businesses. Academic fraud threatens the integrity of American school systems, and courageous individuals have stepped forward to expose that fraud. For example, Brian Donlon blew the whistle on fraud within Maryland’s Montgomery County Public School System. Donlon’s situation also paved the way for Maryland to pass legislation protecting whistleblowers in public schools, although the new law does not protect Donlon himself because it is not retroactive. Mary Bozoyan experienced severe retaliation after exposing grade-fixing, cover-ups, stealing, and other misdeeds allegedly committed by the principal of a New York high school where she worked as a math teacher.
To learn more about whistleblower laws and whistleblower protection claims, call the seasoned Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (601) 790-1505 to set up an initial consultation.
