Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Joel Chagadama
LEG 500
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Assignment 1 Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley Chagadama 2
Abstract
very destructive than exposing inside info to outside parties, such as the media, or interest
groups, or the legislature raise a lot of question about loyalty. In the paper I will be exploring the
key characteristic of a whistleblower, and look at one of a recent case of whistleblowing and its
implications. To conclude the paper I will examine the laws and protections afforded
whistleblowers.
traded company.
Whistleblowers are those folks who call attention to potential misconduct within their
establishments. Some say these are honorable folks who sacrifice their professional and
personally wellbeing to uncover fraudulent, or harmful, wasteful practices that can be detriment
to the public safety. However, they are some who also believe that whistleblowers are a bunch of
displeased workers who are out to get anyone they feel have aggrieved them. Regardless the
view is, nobody can deny the fact that whistleblowing takes guts and much resolve. The most
common individualities of whistleblowing are rebellion, breach of loyalty, finger pointers and
lots of nerve. These features make whistleblowing an ethically equivocal feat. In addition to
coworkers against that of the general public and involves allegation that those in position of
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Assignment 1 Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley Chagadama 3
contractor brought to light by one of their managers Todd Donaldson on September 2012. He
accused his company of falsifying tests on their LN-100 Inertial Navigation System/Global
Positioning System (INS/GPS). As reported by Geuss, this GPS unit are installed on "various
aircraft, including helicopters and unmanned drones, missiles, submarines, and other vehicles
that provides essential positioning data to the sensitive systems. Mr. Donaldson asserts that
Northrop Grumman employees have been knowing fudging pass results for the Inertial
Navigation System units even though that wasnt the case and the devices were then sold to the
military. Donaldson also claims that he tried to bring up the issue with his superiors only to be
They have been a crash of a Predator drone carrying a Hellfire missile in the North African
Republic of Djibouti which the Air Force investigation team blamed the LN-100. The device in
question is reported to have recorded the drones altitude to be 400 feet higher than it actually
was. Even though the case has not yet been decided and they is only one accident to talk about,
its quite clear that Mr. Donaldson claim can be justified. Recently the Utah District Judge gave
orders to have case unsealed despite of the fact that the U.S. government reluctant to join the
lawsuit. It is however believed that the government might still decide to join the lawsuit.
Albert Einstein once said that the world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil
but because of those who look on and do nothing. It is therefore, very important that
whistleblowing be encouraged and those who have the courage to come forward be protected.
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Assignment 1 Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley Chagadama 4
Bjerkelo (2010) claims that the large percentage of all whistleblowers report some kind of
workplace harassment after speaking up. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 also known as
(SOX) offers substantial safeguards for all those people who speaks up. Given its various
criminal, civil and administrative requirements, the law is considered to be one of the best
Under the law publicly traded companies are required to create internal and independent audit
committees. These committee have to establish a coveted mechanism for employees to bring
forth whistleblower complaints, and stipulates ways in which the confidentiality of the
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Assignment 1 Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley Chagadama 5
References
Bjerkelo et al (2010) Predicting proactive behavior at work: Exploring the role of personality as
Geuss, M. (2014.). Whistleblower suit accuses Northrop Grumman of fudging GPS systems
policy/2014/10/whistleblower-suit-accuses-northrop-grumman-of-fudging-gps-systems-
testing/