A whistleblower is a popular term for people who report illegal
conduct. The laws enacted by Congress and the state legislatures
do not tend to define a whistleblower or use the term
"whistleblower." Instead, the laws refer to individuals who are
retaliated against or discriminated against because of actions
they take to:
1) oppose or
investigate wrongdoing;
2) assist
another person in an investigation of
alleged illegal conduct;
3) report wrongdoing
to proper authorities, such as a supervisor or the government; or
4) testify in
legal proceedings.
A whistleblower generally is someone who reports wrongdoing (by
a co-worker, employer, or other person or company) to a person in
a position of authority or publicly, as to the media. More
specifically, in a legal sense, it usually means someone who
observes or learns of illegal activity, or at least activity
believed to be unlawful, and reports it either to (1) a supervisor
in the organization where the whistleblower is employed or (2) to
a governmental agency with responsibility to investigate or
enforce laws regarding the alleged wrongdoing.
Quite often, the term whistleblower is used when an employee
opposes illegal acts of an employer and makes a report of the
misconduct to an outside government agency or to the media.
Sometimes, a whistleblower is someone who simply testifies
truthfully in a legal hearing or other proceeding.
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