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First Whistleblowers in United States History
During the Revolutionary War, 10 American sailors reported bad behavior from their commander. While on the USS Warren, these sailors watched their leader, Commodore Esek Hopkins, commit various abuses. However, during this time there was zero legal protections for speaking out against your commander and these soliders could have been denounced as traitors. https://www.history.com/news/whistleblowers-law-founding-fathershttps://www.history.com/news/whistleblowers-law-founding-fathers -
Upton Sinclair, the Jungle
Upton Sinclair is most famous for his investigative journalism and whistleblowing of slaughterhouses in Chicago. Sinclair exposed the horrors of these industries and wrote about in a novel called, 'the Jungle'. This horrified everyday Americans and Pure Food and Drug Act was written into law. This is another event of whistleblowing before any real protections.
https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-24-1-b-upton-sinclairs-the-jungle-muckraking-the-meat-packing-industry.html -
Lloyd–La Follette Act of 1912
The Lloyd–La Follette Act of 1912 was the first real protective legislation for "whistleblowers". This civil service reform meant federal employees had a guaranteed right to communicate with members of Congress and couldn't be discharged without established procedures. This act helped protect civil servants in the United States. https://whistleblowersblog.org/2012/08/articles/whistleblower-news/government-whistleblowers/happy-birthday-lloyd-la-follette-act/ -
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 was created during World War I and President Woodrow Wilson was attempting to 'crush out' anti-war dissent. The goal of the Espionage Act of 1917, was meant to silence critics of the United States government but recently has been used to prosecute whistleblowers. Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden have both been charged for releasing sensitive government information to the public. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=3&psid=3904 -
Freedom of Information Act of 1966
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was signed into law to help provide government information to the general public. This act forced government agencies to release all requested information public unless it falls under 1 of 9 different FOIA exemptions. This information helps potential whistlerblowers. https://foia.state.gov/learn/foia.aspx -
Ethics in Government Act of 1978
Following the Watergate scandal and Saturday Night Massacre, The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 was passed and forced government officials to put their salaries out to the public. As a result of this acts, it helped created the the U.S. Office of Independent Counsel (OIC). The OIC was now tasked with investigating government officials and are responsible for dealing with documenting the whistleblower process. https://www.congress.gov/bill/95th-congress/senate-bill/555 -
Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989
This act was written into law to help protect whistleblower in the United States government who are reporting potential crimes and wrongdoing. This was a massive win for whistleblower protection as now they finally could be protected and not face penalties like paycuts, demotions or being fired. https://www.sec.gov/eeoinfo/whistleblowers.htm -
No FEAR Act of 2002
Congress passed the No FEAR Act of 2002 on May 15th, 2002. FEAR stands for 'Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation'. This meant that companies would be help responsible for violating anti discrimination laws and anti-whistleblower protection laws.
https://www.nlrb.gov/reports/regulatory-reports-and-notices/no-fear-act
