BofA Has To Pay Fired Whistleblower $930,000
from the but-the-us-gov't-will-still-try-to-put-people-in-jail dept
The US Department of Labor has told Bank of America to reinstate a guy they fired for blowing the whistle on fraud at Countrywide, and pay him $930,000 for his troubles. Apparently, BofA fired the guy soon after taking over Countrywide and discovered that this (unnamed) employee was trying to report on the fact that others, who had reported fraud at Countrywide, had been the victims of corporate retaliation.
Of course, Bank of America has plenty of cash on hand, in part because the US government (the one now ordering it to pay this worker less than a million dollars) has bailed the bank out to the tune of over $20 billion.
And while we’re on the subject of the US government punishing a company for retaliating against whistleblowers, we should probably mention that the very same federal government has been going out of its way lately to try to imprison government whistleblowers. Apparently, it’s okay when the federal government does it, but not when anyone else does it.
Filed Under: free speech, whistleblowing
Companies: bank of america
Comments on “BofA Has To Pay Fired Whistleblower $930,000”
Do as I say, not as I do.
Re: Re:
right to the heart of the problem
Sigh.
I want to be worked up about the injustice in the system.
I want to be worked up about whistleblowers needing protection for the greater good.
But this is just going to be another one of those cases no one cares about. The evil whistleblower will be the cause of all of their problems, and he will be demonized.
All of the spin is always about the whistleblower and how they got the information, never any look at the actual information.
Once upon a time when you had a whistleblower, Pentagon Papers or DeepThroat, they bothered to look into the information and then dug for more. Now they just try to get everyone to feel bad for the poor company this person set up to take the fall.
When you have a whistleblower, and they try to silence them there should be all kinds of investigations launched. I don’t care if its the Whitehouse or BOFA, the fact they are doing more than just denial pretty much should confirm what the whistleblower is saying is true and it is a symptom of much worse things being done secretly.
Re: Re:
tv is getting old, and well they get bored of the same old stuff so they just put in zero effort to get high ratings
internet is where the new brighteyed reporters are
Whistleblowers and Retaliators
Any time there is no adequate whistleblower protection scheme set up and actually working properly, you can be sure there will be criminal activity going on, done by persons at the top of the organization. Any large pot of money will attract criminals, like bears to honey.
Notice how there have been numerous whistleblowers retaliated against. Only one has been compensated. No attention has been paid to the fraud which set off the whistleblowing. No corporate retaliators have been punished. The government has a long way to go, if they want to do a proper job of cleaning up BofA. What are the chances that they will actually get the job done?
The culture of scheming in the US finance industry has gravely damaged the US economy. It will continue to do so.
Any guess as to how long this will drag out?
This person will probably never see a dime.
Hey US Govt., you're doing it wrong
Wake me up when the people responsible for the fraud are put in federal “PMITA” PRISON. Paying out fines is just part of doing business to these ****s.
I believe the employee was a she judging by the following from the article:
So they’re not going to be paying him anything.
Govt Whistleblowers
In the government, whistleblowing on fraud, waste or abuse is encouraged, and protected by the IG (Inspector General). Leaking classified information is not considered whistleblowing.
Re: Govt Whistleblowers
Unfortunately, all records of fraud, waste and abuse are classified.
Fix up the over-classification problem, before asking for more respect towards state secrets.
Re: Re: Govt Whistleblowers
Not defending the over-classification, that’s an issue we are working on, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Most classified information is classified for a very good reason. The more people that know of a secret reduce the chances of the secret being kept.
Government Whistle Blowers??
Did someone try to blow the whistle on Obuma? Next thing you know they’ll be tryin’ to pass him off as bein’ American!
Re: Government Whistle Blowers??
I think you’ve found your calling – troll. Please proceed with additional douche-baggery.
Bank of America blows ponies!
That’s when they’re not doing face-plants in donkey bungholes. Why anyone would do business with those turds is beyond comprehension!