Frederic St-Martin | The FCPA Blog

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All posts by Frederic St-Martin

Frédéric St-Martin: Should media whistleblowers be protected?

Frederic St-Martin December 15, 2015

Whistleblowers can be a privileged source of information for journalists. Public disclosure of wrongdoing may also be one of the most powerful measures of accountability.

In some cases however, public disclosures of wrongdoing involving just a few individuals may have extremely serious consequences for their employer and some of their colleagues who have done nothing wrong.… Continue Reading

Frédéric St-Martin: Legal incentives for whistleblowing in the private sector

Frederic St-Martin October 15, 2015

As mentioned in a prior post, ex post protective measures for whistleblowers are insufficient on their own. Considering the economic benefits brought by effective reporting mechanisms, private firms need to adopt proactive measures that will avoid whistleblower victimization and lead to meaningful organizational change.… Continue Reading

Frédéric St-Martin: Whistleblowing from within the intelligence community

Frederic St-Martin September 22, 2015

Many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, require the disclosure of wrongdoing occurring within the intelligence community to be done internally.

In contrast with most other public officials, relevant national laws prohibit employees of the intelligence community and the military from disclosing wrongdoing to a designated third party independent from the relevant organization.… Continue Reading

Frédéric St-Martin: How transparent can whistleblowing be?

Frederic St-Martin September 16, 2015

In an earlier post for the FCPA Blog about protecting whistleblowers, I said ex ante protective measures for whistleblowers may act as guarantee that disclosures of wrongdoing will be taken seriously and that reprisals will not be tolerated within an organization.… Continue Reading

Frédéric St-Martin: Should whistleblowers’ motives matter?

Frederic St-Martin September 10, 2015

Do motives matter for assessing the legitimacy of whistleblower allegations? This issue is currently subject to debate in Canada as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) are respectively considering and testing reward-based schemes for whistleblowers.… Continue Reading

Frédéric St-Martin: How can we protect whistleblowers from retaliation?

Frederic St-Martin September 8, 2015

There is ample evidence suggesting that retaliation against whistleblowers is common, even in countries with elaborate whistleblower protections.

For instance, the 2013 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES) reveals that 21 percent of United States workers who reported misconduct said they experienced reprisals, down from 22 percent in 2011.… Continue Reading

Frédéric St-Martin: A model to measure whistleblowing effectiveness

Frederic St-Martin September 2, 2015

I said in the prior post that effectiveness is the most difficult variable to measure among all variables associated with whistleblowing. There is no agreed definition of what whistleblowing effectiveness is and no consensus on a model to measure it.… Continue Reading

Whistleblowing: How do we measure its effectiveness?

Frederic St-Martin September 1, 2015

Despite its tremendous potential to influence law and public policy, whistleblowing effectiveness has been less studied than whistleblower motivations and the consequences whistleblowers must often endure for speaking up.

This may come as no surprise.… Continue Reading