Whistleblowing

Assignment 1: Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley

Tracy Burnette

Strayer University

Dr. William Stone

LEG500

07/21/2015

The purpose of this paper is to examine whistleblowers. This paper will also examine the case of whistleblower, Christian Nielsen, who brought a lawsuit against AECOM Tech Corp and AECOM Middle East Ltd. In summary, the details and the outcome of the case will determine if Nielsen was justified in bringing forth a case as a whistleblower.

Describe the key characteristics of a whistleblower, and briefly summarize one (1) researched instance of whistleblowing in one (1) publicly traded company within the last 12 months. Include the details of the issue that the whistleblower reported and the effect of the whistleblower’s actions on both the whistleblower himself and the company.

Law & Ethics in the Business Environment defines whistleblowers as people who decide to report unethical or illegal activities, usually under the control of their employers. They work in all types of industries/organizations i.e. private, nonprofit, and/or government. They will bring forth this information to supervisors, board members and/or top level executives. Whistleblowers often publicize a company’s fraud to outside entities.

A person becomes a whistleblower for ethical and/or moral reasons. Whistleblowers allow their beliefs and attitudes to guide them. When a whistleblower sees wrong doing, corruption or misconduct within a company, they feel they must bring this misconduct or fraud to the public’s attention. By bringing attention to these activities, whistleblowers often face retaliation, harassment and termination from employment.

To protect whistleblowers Congress enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This act was created because of accounting and financial scandals. This Act protects whistleblowers who report misconduct and fraud in a publically traded company.

The case that will be examined and summarized is Nielsen v. AECOM Tech Corp....