Whistleblowing & Sarbanes Oxley

Introduction

According to the text, whistleblowers are people who decided to report unethical or illegal activities, usually activities under the control of their employers (Halbert). They disclose information within or outside their organizations, for instances, management or the public. Robert Blatchford decided to come forward with allegations of J. C. Penney was charging full price for items that were on sale and collecting sales tax on items that were nontaxable. He was terminated and had a lawsuit filed against for coming forward with the information.

What is Whistleblowing?

Whistleblowing is the attempt of people who work for a company reveal unethical or illegal activities. Whistleblowing tries to make others aware of activities that are considered illegal and unethical. When the wrongdoing is reported to someone within the company, it is considered to internal. However, internal whistleblowing is tends to less effective to the company. On the other hand, there is external whistleblowing. This is where the wrongdoing is made public by going to the media. Therefore, going public tends to be more effective and cause the company bad publicity. Whistleblowing can be personal or impersonal. Personal is when the wrongful act affects the whistleblower alone. Impersonal is when wrongful act affects others. Many people whistle blow for two reasons: morality and revenge.

Morality is the biggest and best reason for this act because people generally should want to be moral and ethical. Whistleblowers should keep in mind that once they blow the whistle there are consequences, such as termination, blacklisted and lawsuits. A few individuals are strong enough to blow the whistle. Whereas, many people would not because of fear. In this case, Robert Blatchford, the whistleblower was terminated for going public about J.C. Penney charging full price for items that were on sale and collecting sales tax on items that were nontaxable.

Initial Report

An incident of...