Legal Issues in Whistleblowers - Essay Example

A whistleblower is a person in an organization or institution whether private or governmental who reveals to people in authority or to the general public about the misconducts or ills going on in that organization or institution. These individuals may be in danger after the whistleblowing. Tort law aims to protect individuals against harm from unreasonable actions of other people (Lipman, 2011). The law, therefore, protects whistleblowers from being hurt legally by those they have blown the whistle against.

Intentional tort law protects the whistleblower. Whistleblowers are protected by this tort law because even though their actions intentionally hurt those involved in the organization, they do so to end the misconduct hence the action is justified and the law offers protection (McBride and Bagshaw, 2008). This law protects the special agent because even though the FBI’s integrity was questioned, the action will enable other intelligence organizations to be vigilant in the future hence her action was justifiable in court.

The Lloyd-La Follette Act is a congressional act that was passed as a way to protect civil servant whistleblowers against abusive or even unwarranted removal of the whistleblower for revealing misconduct or furnishing information. It also guarantees the rights of employees to reveal any inefficient information about the institutions to congress or authorized committees. All this is in a bid to improve the integrity of such institutions and organizations and protect their employees at the same time.