"Should There Be Protection For Association Whistle-Blowers?"

Dear Dadie: I work in the finance office of our national association. Over the last year, I have become aware of what surely is, to put it mildly, an "irregularity" in expense reporting by one of our senior staff. I told my supervisor, the CFO, about my suspicions, and he rather curtly told me to "forget about it" because "it's not my job to be a policeman". My conscience is bothering me. I don't want to lose my job. I don't know what to do.

Dear Person with a Conscience: Unfortunately, it took the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation, and far too many headlines in our professional publications and in the national press to put appropriate behavior back on the agenda as an association priority. There is no doubt in my mind that for most associations ethical best practices are inherent values. But for those who violate the trust that is given to them when they cross the association's doorstep, there has been too little self-policing and too little discussion about just what are the ethical boundaries in our association community, or what protection is available to those who pursue disclosure. The sad truth is, the whistle blower has a short life span in the field she or he exposes, whether be it Enron, the FBI or the US Air Force. In our own ranks, there is very little known about protection offered to the legitimate whistle blower, or punitive outcomes for capricious or vindictive whistle-blowing.

Most recently, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy co-sponsored the corporate whistleblower law to ensure that whistleblower rights are protected, a logical extension of SOX. Within the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) there are provisions to assure that employees in any place of business covered by OSHA (and a variety of other laws) have a protected right to complain to OSHA, to seek an OSHA inspection and to safely testify in proceedings relating to an OSHA inspection. The legislation specifically prohibits any form of discrimination against such a person, with discrimination defined as: firing or lay off; blacklisting; demoting; disciplining; denial of benefits; intimidation; transferring; reassigning work or reducing pay or hours.

Despite efforts to determine the actual "safety" of those who do opt to disclose irregularities in both for-profit and not-for-profit America, I could find few credible sources of information. The relevant web sites and blogs visited variously cited figures as low as 5 to 10% for those who were actually safe from retaliation of any sort. Similarly, as this column went to press, reliable information about the cost (both actual and in image) to organizations and employees, to say nothing about the whistle-blower, were difficult to obtain. It is also impossible to estimate the percentage of whistle-blowers who may have less than noble reasons for speaking up or out.

Is it not time for boards to assure that every association has some form of protection for the whistle-blower, and some negative consequence for anyone who uses whistle-blowing for personal reasons? This appears to be a subject that is seldom discussed. Since you are surely not the only association employee who has questions about the use of fiscal or other resources, or the behavior of certain individuals, time is past due for an open dialogue on this issue. Inclusion of whistle blowing protection in personnel policy manuals should not worry anyone who has no reason to worry.

If you want to go further than your CFO, I would begin by speaking with your human resource person and/or your lawyer. Unfortunately, until protection of the whistle-blower is assured, in print and in practice, you must consider all alternatives, and for each, determine the consequences if you do it and the consequences if you don't. But best of all, remember what Jiminy Cricket advised Pinocchio, "Always let your conscience be your guide"!

Have a problem? Email Dadie Perlov, a CMG Principal, at dadie@virtualcmg.com

Reprinted with the permission of Association Trends.

Printer Friendly Version

Dadie Perlov, CAE