Whistle-Blowing

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Whistle-Blowing
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Whistle blowing...

• (def) the unauthorized public disclosure of
  privileged information by an employee ot protect
  the public interest
• must be unauthorized
• must be public
• must be information the employee has access to by
  virtue of their job position
• i.e. not simply personal opinion

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Whistle blowing...

• the issue?
• appropriate balance between individual rights of
  the employee and their duty of loyalty to their
  employer
• when is whistle blowing justified?
• when should whistle blowing be punished?

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Criteria

• Is the whistle-blower acting in the public
  interest?
• what is the public interest?
• life
• health
• safety
• environment?
• wasting tax dollars?
• who should judge?
• the whistle-blower?
• the government
• a third party

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Criteria Is Whistle-Blowing Justified

• Is the whistle-blower acting in the public
  interest?
• Does the whistle-blowing seem likely to
  contribute to changes protecting the public
  interest?
• has the threat to the public interest already
  been rectified?

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Criteria

• Is the whistle-blower acting in the public
  interest?
• Is the whistle-blower acting in good faith?
• Does it matter if the whistle-blower is right or
  wrong?
• How wrong is acceptable? (i.e. what is the
  standard of proof that the whistle-blower ought
  to assume?)

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Criteria

• Is the whistle-blower acting in the public
  interest?
• Is the whistle-blower acting in good faith?
• Has the whistle-blower exhausted internal
  channels?
• does pursuing the issue through internal channels
  make sense in the circumstances?

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Criteria

• Is the whistle-blower acting in the public
  interest?
• Is the whistle-blower acting in good faith?
• Has the whistle-blower exhausted internal
  channels?
• Does the whistle-blowing prejudice the ability of
  the whistle-blower to do their job?
• undermine the ability of the office to perform
  its functions?

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Criteria

• Is the whistle-blower acting in the public
  interest?
• Is the whistle-blower acting in good faith?
• Has the whistle-blower exhausted internal
  channels?
• Does the whistle-blowing prejudice the ability of
  the whistle-blower to do their job?
• Were the actions of the whistle-blower
  proportionate to the public interest at stake?
• release only of necessary information
• release of information in appropriate public
  forum?

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Criteria Is Disciplinary Action Justified?

• Did the government do a test of balance between
  the rights of the whistleblower as a citizen and
  their duty of loyalty?
• did the government ask the previous four
  questions?

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Criteria Is Disciplinary Action Justified?

• Did the government do a test of balance between
  the rights of the whistleblower as a citizen and
  their duty of loyalty?
• Was proper procedure followed?
• was the whistle-blower formally reprimanded and
  given official reasoning for the reprimand?
• was unofficial pressure placed on the
  whistle-blower?

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Criteria Is Disciplinary Action Justified?

• Did the government do a test of balance between
  the rights of the whistleblower as a citizen and
  their duty of loyalty?
• Was proper procedure followed?
• Does the restricted action infringe the rights of
  the employee as little as reasonably possible?
• Is the disciplinary action proportionate to the
  seriousness of the offence?

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Broader Issues

• How broad should justifications for
  whistle-blowing be drawn?
• Does punishment of whistle-blowers violate their
  individual rights?
• how much protection should be provided to
  whistle-blowers?
• How much secrecy is tolerable in a democracy?
• Will protection for whistle-blowers improve the
  performance of the public service?
• Why?
• Why not?