The Evolution of the Whistle-Blower: From Civil War to WikiLeaks | ExecutiveBiz

25.12.15

The Evolution of the Whistle-Blower: From Civil War to WikiLeaks | ExecutiveBiz: In 1863, Congress passed the first whistle-blower law, the False Claims Act. In those days of the Civil War, fraud ran rampant, both in the north and the south: Nefarious contractors sold the Union Army sick horses and mules, defective weapons and food that had gone bad. To prevent this from happening, Congress decided to pass a law that would aid people in recovering what they had lost through fraudulent transactions, by suing on behalf of the government and getting paid a percentage of the recovery.

In 1912, the Lloyd-La Follette Act was passed, which made it the first protective legislation for whistle-blowers. The act additionally protected the right of federal employees to join unions. However, before the 1960s, businesses had broad autonomy in employee policies and could fire an employee without reason, according to Lilanthi Ravishankar.