Los Angeles Times: $3.8 Million Jury Award to Countrywide Whistleblower Overturned
An appeals court judge has ruled that Countrywide Financial whistleblower Michael Winston, a former high-level executive for the mortgage specialist, was not wrongfully terminated from employment when Bank of America acquired the company in 2008. Initially, Winston won a $3.8 million wrongful-termination suit in February 2011, stating he was let go because he spoke out on the unsafe working conditions at Countrywide and refused to draft a fraudulent memo. His lawyer says he will petition the court to reconsider.
Winston spoke alongside Deutche Bank whistleblower Eric Ben-Artzi as part of GAP’s American Whistleblower Tour when it stopped at Florida International University in Miami earlier this month. GAP also has a new campaign to raise awareness for financial workers' rights, which you can learn more about here.
CBS6: Whistleblower Says He Was Fired For Talking to CBS 6
The Police Department of Richmond, VA fired a police officer after he blew the whistle on two fellow officers who allegedly had made inappropriate comments about harming President Obama and were also fired, though no actual criminal intention was determined. The whistleblower is now considering his legal options.
Nation of Change: These Laws Make Me Want to Gag
More coverage on the controversial Ag Gag bills that have been introduced in several states and would criminalize whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing at industrial farms. Some of the bills require employees who witness abuses to report them within a few hours, which would “make it impossible for whistleblowers to secure advice and protection, or for them to document a pattern of abuses.”
The Richmond Register: Berea Adds Whistleblower Policy Following Escaped Work-Release Inmate Incident
A Kentucky city will implement a whistleblower policy after an investigation exposed years of unreported misconduct in the inmate work-release program. The escape of an inmate from a work site triggered the investigation that discovered a work environment unfriendly to whistleblowers.
Auburn Wire Eagle: Whistleblower, Activist Speaking at Auburn University February 21, 2013
Customs whistleblower Cathy Harris will speak at a public event tonight at Auburn University. Harris spoke out against discrimination against African-American women going through security checks at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta in 1998.
This event solidifies Auburn’s status as a haven for truth-tellers. Just last month, GAP’s American Whistleblower Tour brought Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme whistleblower Frank Casey and Department of Education whistleblower Jon Oberg in to share their stories with Auburn students and faculty.
Tampa Bay Online: The Year of the Whistleblower
The opinion piece argues that whistleblowers spoke out in record numbers in 2012 and are expected to do so again this year. The piece also touches on how legislation such as Dodd-Frank and incoming whistleblower allies on Capitol Hill have helped to create a whistleblower regime holding not only the US financial industry more accountable, but a legion of other industries as well.
Jack Davis is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
Thursday, 21 February 2013