The Whistleblower's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What's Right and Protecting Yourself

From America’s leading whistleblower’s attorney—the third updated edition of his layman’s guide to the legal do’s and don’ts of exposing workplace wrongdoing

 

Do you suspect that your employer is skirting safety or environmental rules, cheating on taxes, violating government contracts, committing financial fraud, or breaking the law? That your boss is a crook? Welcome to the ranks of the close to 50 percent of American workers who have witnessed fraud or misconduct at work—about half of whom take initial steps to “do the right thing” by reporting it. Few get far. Despite a revolutionary spate of laws in recent years that not only protect whistleblowers but also provide for large monetary rewards, the legislative labyrinth remains daunting. All too often this means silence, lost court cases, damaged careers, and a failure to effect real change.


Now, updated in March 2013 to include the historic $104-million Bradley Birkenfeld whistleblower case and more, comes the third edition of the first-ever consumer guide to whistleblowing by the nation’s leading whistleblower attorney. In The Whistleblower’s Handbook, Stephen Martin Kohn explains nearly all federal and state laws regarding whistleblowing. In the step-by-step bulk of the book, he also presents twenty-one rules for whistleblowers—from finding the best federal and state laws to knowing your way around the far-reaching Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, and from the dangers of blindly trusting internal corporate “hotlines” to obtaining the proof you need to win the case. Also included are six easy-reference checklists on whistleblower reward laws and other legislation.

Stephen Martin Kohn is one of the leading whistleblower attorneys in the United States and is the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center. Since 1984 he has successfully represented numerous nationally recognized whistleblowers. He is regularly consulted by House and Senate leaders for help in drafting whistleblower protection laws. He is the author of several legal books on the subject.