Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley
Many businesses have walked free for long after having mistreated or mishandled their employees. Many employees have not been able to come out clearly about issues that they face at their workplaces, and this has led to increased mistreatment and violation of worker rights. However, there has been a few numbers of outraged employees that have broken the cocoon and solidified their position in the corporate world by publicly exposing the vices committed by these companies. These select few are considered to be bold enough to go against their master’s will and play quite a great role in ensuring that any corporate organisation respects employee rights. These people are called whistle-blowers, and they have a right to engage in public exposition of any corporate misconduct.
A whistle-blower is an individual who reveals any form of misconduct, corporate misappropriations, or misbehaviour to the public or within the organisation (Ahmad et al., 2014). Such kind of corporate vices that could push for such an act are those that violate the law or threaten the welfare of other people in the organisation. They serve as a voice for the rest of their colleagues who fear that opening up could cost them their careers and future opportunities of promotion or jobs in other organisations.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Not every worker can make it become a whistle-blower. This is because people vary in nature and personality. There are those people that are silent and laid back while others are quite talkative and outgoing. The introverts cannot easily become whistle-blowers due to their less interactive selves. Extroverts, on the other hand, are the ones that make good whistle-blower due to their outgoing and interactive nature.
A whistle-blower is altruistically motivated. They hold other people’s interests at heart. They are concerned about the well-being of others, and they can put their lives on the line for their counterparts. Whistle-blowers are also guided by their beliefs and opinions (Ahmad et al., 2014). They only abide by what is seemingly right to them. If this beliefs and opinions are violated, they then feel the need to raise their concerns to those in authority.
Further, whistle-blowers are mostly people who are educated with high academic credentials, and they are people in corporate positions. Their highly educated status makes them makes them enlightened and aware of any violation of rights. They are also knowledgeable as they know the trends in employee rights and freedoms. Additionally, they always do not want to change their behavioural ways. They still maintain their habit of pointing out flaws in management and running of a corporation at all times despite the dangers that come it.
Earlier on in the year, the Vibra Hospital of South Eastern Michigan was found to have misappropriated its funds (McLaren, 2016). One Sylvia Daniel raised this concerned, now a former health information encoder of the hospital. Sylvia had noted that there had been a lot of funds spent on medically unnecessary services. As a result, she reached out to some senior officials within the organisation and tried to present her grievances, but no prior action was taken. This made her take further action by filing a whistle-blower lawsuit against the hospital where the organisation was found to have bits of corruption (McLaren, 2016). Vibra Hospital was charged with billed medical care for unnecessary services, and Daniel was awarded $4 million for her bravery act of pointing out the flaws in the company (McLaren, 2016).
Sylvia Daniel’s move was quite a bold one given the fact that she is a lady. Seeing that she was an attendant at a medical facility directly implies that she is learned. She was also the information coder which means that she was in a position of influence within the organisation. Further, it is easy to tell Daniel’s nature from the way she handles the matter at hand. She first seeks to present it to the internal organisation, but upon failing to listen to her claims, she furthers her quest by taking it to court.
She ended up losing her job for her act but also got a reward from it (McLaren, 2016). However, it is clear that she knew the consequences of her involvement in such action but did it. Her altruism made her lose her job but for the better of the organisation. Again, she also lost her credibility as a worthwhile employee. No firm can easily take her in as they are aware of what she is capable of doing in the case where there are flaws. With such monetary shortcomings, the company was prone to experience massive losses. Pointing out the problem made the company keener on its expenditures on services that are unnecessarily valuable to the enterprise. The company also lost money as it was fined for its misconduct and its reputation was also ruined.
Daniels was quite justified in filing the lawsuit against Vibra Hospital because it was in violation to law and it interfered with the operational capacity of the hospital. Further, Daniels is allowed by the constitution to have freedom of speech and express her opinions. Again, the hospital is a public service provider which means that its operational woes could be of a significant impact on the larger society.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) allows employees to report acts of wrongdoing without the retaliation of their employers especially in publicly traded companies (Thomas & Willmann, 2012). It gives employees the power to publicly point out the crimes committed by their bosses without being threatened or getting fired whatsoever. In any case, the employee is fired; they are allowed to file a lawsuit for improper termination of work. The employer is required to give valid reasons for why they fired them and if it is found to be unlawful dismissal the employee can get their job back.
Employees should come out to the public to denounce any misconduct they spot in their organisation more so if the company is publicly traded. This will help to keep the companies in check by ensuring that they deliver quality service to their clients. Speaking for one is speaking for all. It presents a much wider respect to the interest of many.
References
Ahmad, A. S; Yunos, R. M; Ahmad, R. A; Sanusi, Z. M. (2014). Whistleblowing behaviour: the influence of ethical climates theory. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences , 164, 445-450.
McLaren, M. L. (2016). Vibra healthcare info coder wins $4M+ whistleblower award in FCA lawsuit. Whistleblower . Retrieved from http://www.whistleblowergov.org/healthcare-and-pharma.php?article=Vibra-Healthcare-Whistleblower-Sylvia-Daniel-4MM-Reward-for-Exposing-Misconduct_90#navbar.
Thomas, M. B; Willmann, J. (2012). Why nurses need whistleblower protection. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 3 (3), 19-23.
