• Legal

Working with Regulators

  • Written By: The Signals Network

In many instances it will be important to involve a regulator during the process of speaking out.

A regulator is someone who works at a local, state, or federal agency who oversees your company’s compliance with certain laws and regulations. If you disclose information to a regulator with or without a rewards program (e.g., SEC, CFTC, IRS, DoL, etc.) they likely will be the ones using your information to start and carry out an investigation of the company, as well as potentially sanction the company. Your (or your lawyer’s) relationship with the regulator is important to ensuring a proper and effective investigation. The following section outlines important information and considerations when working with regulators. 

Tips

Identify agencies that have genuine independence and integrity by investigating how extensively they have actually regulated your employer’s industry and company.”

Tom Devine & Tarek F. Maassarani, The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth (2011), p. 112

“Discuss whether the investigator can deliver on [their] commitments or needs further approvals to make them meaningful. Investigators can be overruled by their superiors.” Devine & Maassarani (2011), p. 89

“A committed investigator can prevent retaliation by alerting an employer that witness harassment will lead to further liability for witness tampering or obstruction of justice.” Devine & Maassarani (2011), p. 89

Ask for examples of incidents when the investigator and the agency effectively shielded a whistleblower from harassment.”

Devine & Maassarani (2011), p. 89

“Do not reveal your cynicism when working with authorities . . . This is a key partnership with whoever is on the front lines of enforcing rules. It helps to at least maintain the demeanor of presuming good faith.” Devine & Maassarani (2011), pp. 79–80

“Hold off on even identifying issues until the ground rules are established to protect your own identity and any identifying information that could be traced back to you.” Devine & Maassarani (2011), p. 113

“Due to their high workload, many agency officials do not have the time to read more than a page of your [initial] complaint. If it is impossible to condense your letter to two pages or less, it is a good idea to prepare a one-page fact sheet or an executive summary. Enclose copies of only the most important supporting documents; do not send a large stack or the originals. At the end of your letter, make suggestions on where officials might go to pursue follow-up investigations or find further corroborating evidence.” Devine & Maassarani (2011), p. 113

RELEVANT LINKS

Disclaimer

The Signals Network does not request, encourage or counsel potential whistleblowers to act unlawfully. This section covers some key information to be aware of based on the experience of other whistleblowers who have been through this before and the people who helped them. This section doesn’t offer legal advice, and potential whistleblowers are encouraged to consult with counsel about their particular situation.

Statement of transparency

This entire project is worthless if the tech workers who come to it cannot trust where the information is from, who is behind its creation, and who manages the site. For that reason, I have identified every organization and individual who has been instrumental in its development.

The time and resources required to put together the Handbook were funded by Omidyar Network. This is a wholly independent project owned and managed by me. No identifying data will ever be collected or shared about who accesses this site — with anyone. That said, I do NOT advise accessing this from a company device. Your employer can, and will likely, track visits to a resource like this Handbook. 

You can find a list of the data WordPress automatically collects about site visits here.

 

— Ifeoma Ozoma, Founder of Earthseed, Creator of the Tech Worker Handbook