In a Wall Street Journal newsletter, Phillips & Cohen whistleblower attorney Erika Kelton discusses the difference that work-from-home policies make in employees’ decisions to blow the whistle.
The tip volume began to increase in spring 2020, when some whistleblower lawyers began to suggest that the increase could be linked to would-be tipsters working outside the reach of snooping colleagues and managers.
The most recent report, while demonstrating the program’s continued success, also could indicate the remote-working environment might be making tipsters less concerned about possible workplace intimidation, said Erika Kelton, a partner at law firm Phillips & Cohen LLP who represents whistleblowers. She added that her practice also has seen a steadily increasing number of people reaching out over the past year.
“There can be a corporate culture of silence and a culture of certain practice being OK when you’re doing it,” she said. “When you’re not in the office, that culture becomes very diffused…The bounds of loyalty [are] a bit lowered as well.”
Read the entire newsletter, “Working From Home Could Be Giving Corporate Whistleblowers the Push They Need,” in The Wall Street Journal.