The Economist Sep 29th 2012 by The Economist

Author:The Economist
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: News, The Economist
Publisher: calibre
Published: 2012-09-28T06:02:45+00:00

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This article was downloaded by calibre from http://www.economist.com/node/21563740/print

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Whistleblowers

Strengthening the resistance

Campaigning for a change in the law on whistleblowing

IAN FOXLEY was forced out of a subsidiary of EADS, an aerospace firm, after he questioned payments made to offshore companies as part of a contract in Saudi Arabia. When an employment tribunal refused to hear his case, he remembers, “I felt I had no one to turn to.” Only after he kicked up a stink and the media took notice did the Serious Fraud Office announce a criminal probe into the transfers, which is ongoing (EADS has appointed accountants to conduct a parallel investigation).

Determined to make life a little easier for those who follow in his footsteps, Mr Foxley is helping to set up a support group. Whistleblowers UK will be launched in October. Among the 20 or so founding members are Peter Gardiner, who exposed a slush fund at BAE, another military contractor, and various whistleblowing former doctors, nurses and lawyers. Curiously, the first shot of funding has come from a foundation formed to support the underground press in the Netherlands during the second world war.

Organised by Gavin MacFadyen, director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism at London’s City University, the whistleblowers will share their experiences in online videos and offer advice and a shoulder to cry on via a 24-hour helpline. The group will also provide lawyers and psychotherapists, working pro bono.

Whistleblowers already get help from Public Concern at Work (PCAW), which offers information and advice on the Public Interest Disclosure Act and fields around 2,000 calls a year. But this does not provide psychological or financial support. It is seen by some as compromised, because it is partly funded by industry and emphasises reporting concerns internally to employers, the organisations that Mr MacFadyen suggests “are most likely to do you harm”. “The more, the merrier”, says Cathy James, PCAW’s chief executive.

Both outfits believe English law offers insufficient protections. HM Revenue & Customs can pay sacked whistleblowers compensation for loss of earnings, but the disclosure laws do not ban the blacklisting of those who go public. Eileen Chubb, who campaigns against abuse in care homes for the elderly, says it is too easy for employers to arm-twist whistleblowers into settlements and keep the most sordid details private. PCAW is campaigning against planned changes to the law that would place a greater burden on whistleblowers to show that their disclosures are in the public interest. These were designed to weed out frivolous cases involving complaints about unpaid City bonuses, but they might also discourage genuine whistleblowing, fears Ms James.

Some within Whistleblowers UK want Britain to look more like America. There, whistleblowers not only enjoy support from a cottage industry of specialist lawyers, consultants and counsellors but also benefit from “qui tam” lawsuits and government schemes that allow individuals who help prosecutions to keep a slice of the penalties imposed. These rewards can be huge.

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