Corporate codes of ethics or codes of conduct typically contain robust whistleblower protection policies, but too often the policies provide no protection to the whistleblower.  Acting in good faith, the whistleblower reports fraud or other corporate wrongdoing and expects to be protected from retaliation.  But many whistleblowers suffer retaliation for disclosing fraud or other corporate misconduct and find that the company is focused more on investigating the whistleblower than on investigating the whistleblower’s disclosures or concerns.

While federal whistleblower protection laws provide strong protection to corporate whsitleblowers, some corporate employees are not covered or protected under those whistleblower statutes.  Those whistleblowers may be protected under the whistleblower protection policies in corporate codes of ethics.  In particular, whistleblowers that have suffered retaliation can potentially sue for breach of contract.  For more information about this theory, see Professor Moberly’s article “Protecting Whistleblowers by Contract.”

To learn if you may have a claim for whistleblower retaliation or breach of a code of ethics, contact Zuckerman Law at 202-262-8959 or email us at zuckerman@zuckermanlaw.com.