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Whistleblowers, the Public Interest, and the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
Author(s) -
Gobert James,
Punch Maurice
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2230.00249
Subject(s) - wrongdoing , public interest , legislation , sanctions , deviance (statistics) , political science , perspective (graphical) , faith , law , public relations , statistics , theology , artificial intelligence , computer science , mathematics , philosophy
Corporate crime and organisational deviance raise complex legal issues. An initial problem lies simply in identifying when such wrongdoing has occurred. Here, whistleblowers can perform a valuable service. However, publicized cases suggest that they often pay dearly for their candour, encountering unfair sanctions at work. In Britain, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 seeks to protect “good‐faith” whistleblowers from employer reprisals. In the wake of this legislation, the authors examine whistleblowing from a socio‐legal perspective, asking what motivates whistleblowers, how do institutions respond to them, can legislation adequately protect them, and what effects will PIDA have on whistleblowing, employment practices, the culture of the workplace and, ultimately, society.