Washington Post Sunday editorial: Encouraging whistleblowers

[alp227]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/encouraging-whistleblowers/2011/05/16/AFl9mf8G_story.html

DANIEL KIRK suspected that his employer, Schindler Elevator Corp., had defrauded the federal government by falsifying or failing to file documents about the military veterans on its payroll. The company could be denied payment if it failed to meet this annual requirement; Mr. Kirk, a Vietnam vet and a manager who dealt with personnel issues, believed that the company was skirting the law.

To substantiate his claims, Mr. Kirk, through his wife, filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Labor Department to obtain forms filled out by Schindler. He said the documents showed that Schindler had failed to file the mandatory forms for several years and had entered erroneous information on those it did file. Mr. Kirk filed suit against Schindler in 2005.

The FOIA request would prove to be fatal to his cause. In a 5 to 3 decision on Monday, with Justice Elena Kagan taking no part, the Supreme Court concluded that the forms obtained by Mr. Kirk undercut his ability to sue Schindler under the False Claims Act.

(...)

What does not make sense is the court’s decision to label administrative forms filled out by the suspect company as “reports” even though they contained only raw information that had not been audited, analyzed or investigated by the government or any outside entity. The decision could prevent legitimate whistleblowers from moving forward with their cases. Corporate insiders are often essential in ferreting out fraudulent contracting practices.

[saras]

1. Yes, but the administration (and much of DU) hates whistleblowing traitors

Why on earth would we want to encourage them? They only make it hard to do business without attracting unpleasant attention from the public.

[Citizen Worker]

2. No doubt the court's decision was made with an eye cast in the direction of justice Thomas and his

failure to disclose his wife's earned income from right wing sources for the last 20 years.