Whistleblowing/speaking out at work...would you?

[summer]

This is an excerpt from an article.  What do you think of the advice given vs what the lawyer suggested?

My H blew the whistle at work a couple of months ago and they are shanking him for it every single day.  If they had the authority to fire him, they would, but they can't so they just punish him.   I'm glad he did it, but it is awful to watch.  He has aged 10 years in the 2 years, his hair is falling out, his sleep is shitty, our marriage suffers ...it's pretty bad.  I don't know that I would advise someone to do it, but I know someone has to.   


NYTimes

Peer Review: Too Risky to Complain?



Regarding your recent response to Amy, a woman offended by inappropriately sexual comments from male colleagues (“Silencing the Wolf Whistles,” Nov. 2): As a retired lawyer who spent much of my career in plaintiff-side employment discrimination, including sexual harassment, I would caution anyone like Amy about making a complaint.



While the law is clearly on her side when a hostile work environment exists, it is all too often the complainer who becomes a workplace pariah. In my experience, women who complain are demoted, marginalized or fired because of “unsatisfactory performance” issues. Alas, no one in authority likes to change the status quo, and by raising this issue, a woman is often the loser.



So Amy may still want to raise the issue, but she should know that she may suffer consequences for doing so.



NINA KOENIGSBERG, NEW YORK



I received a couple of responses along these lines. (“Your best advice for her is sending out résumés,” another reader offered. “Unless you are in a position to effect change, shut up and leave.”)



While I agree that speaking up about inappropriate behavior may carry risks, and I suppose that finding a better job is nice if you can do it, I’m leery of the suggestion that someone in Amy’s situation should simply clam up.



For starters, suffering in silence is a dead end — and a guarantee of continuing unhappiness. And while things might get ugly, they also might not. Or at least the ugliness might not last indefinitely, if the actions taken are (as I suggested previously) geared toward curbing future behavior, not meting out punishment.



Perhaps that sounds naïvely optimistic. But look at it this way: Boorish behavior in the workplace isn’t just a problem for any one offended employee; it’s a problem for the organization. Surely there are managers out there who recognize this and are capable of handling the matter accordingly.



Amy’s quandary sounds worlds away from the hesitation of the “Daily Circuit” caller to ask her friend the boss for a raise. Yet there is a common theme: Is it better to be proactive, or to sit tight and hope that the situation improves on its own?



Nobody likes starting an unpleasant conversation, and the decision should never be taken lightly and without careful thought. Sometimes, it really is better to keep quiet, and to learn to adjust.



But sometimes it isn’t. And if you want to change something, you’ll probably have to say something.

[iammalcolmx]

I would at a company like mine where we recently had someone whistle blow and there is more to come. Not sure I would at a company like your H's, he is so brave. I wouldn't do it without being to close contact with an employment attorney who has laid out my rights to me.

[nomad100]

Dec 8, 2014 7:24:02 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I wouldn't do it without being to close contact with an employment attorney who has laid out my rights to me.

This is exactly me, too.

I have seen how shittily people are treated after making legitimate complaints. 

[Deleted]

I think it's a risk no matter what. I did last year for a work situation which, fortunately, our org took seriously enough to follow through on and rectify. A few people knew I had done it, but they were completely on board with how it was handled so it turned out OK.
But I made darn sure my resume was updated before I did it.

[Deleted]

I'd only whistleblow something serious if I could leave.

I volunteered with a refugee family that ended up here because he whistle blew on some major corruption in the Ethiopian government. Now they can never, ever go home again. I am not that ethical, not by a mile.

[ESF]

summer, I'm sorry about your H. Has he talked to a lawyer? Even if they have not fired him, they may be illegally retaliating.

Years ago, I worked at a firm that represented whistleblowers. Some of the companies had done horrible, horrible things. One of them tried to make the guy look like he was suffering from psychosis. They'd do things like constantly readjust his clock, replace all his pens with ones with no ink, periodically move his desk around by an inch or so, that sort of thing. Little things that were so subtle as to barely be perceptible, When that sort of stuff is happening to you every day for months or years, you actually do start to go mad, or at least, seriously think you are. So then they could say, "Bob is delusional, he never complained about X." And "Bob imagines all sorts if crazy things. cooking the books, what?"

Whistleblowing is incredibly important, but you need to be ready for the horrible consequences of doing so. The legal protections just aren't enough to save you. If you are dealing with people committing crimes, they sure as shit don't care about the slap on the wrist that will come from violations whistleblower protection laws, particularly when those claims very likely are going to be sent to arbitration anyway.

And do not get me started about how fucking ridiculous it is that we force whistleblowers to arbitrate their retaliation claims. But that's America today.

[emilyj]

I blew the whistle when I was being sexually harassed at one of my TV jobs. I think the only reason I wasn't run out of town is that management had little to no use for the guy that was harassing me, so on my end, it was handled all very professionally and respectfully.

That was almost 10 years ago. Knowing what I know now, I'm not sure what I would do.