Whistle blowing cases are complex and highly technical. They can often be very hard to fight for an employer because of the damage losing a case can do to their reputation. Often the difficulty in whistle blowing cases is showing that it was the making of the disclosure that actually caused the detrimental treatment, or dismissal.

    It is a popular myth that only the most severe whistle blowing cases of corporate or governmental corruption that results in substantial public harm constitute a whistleblowing. While these instances are the most newsworthy, any kind of misconduct may initiate the whistleblowing process and the vast majority of whistle blowing cases are instigated by relatively minor misconduct. By far the most common type of whistleblowers are internal whistleblowers, who report misconduct to another employee or superior within the company or agency, while external whistleblowers report to outside people or entities.

    Lots of money is recovered in whistle blowing cases. Violators must pay three times the amount they defrauded the government, plus a penalty. When a whistleblower files a complaint, the whistleblower must also file a "written disclosure of substantially all material evidence and information the person possesses." At this point, Department of Justice has sixty days to investigate the information and determine whether it will join in the lawsuit. If the government joins the case and successfully prosecutes it, the whistleblower receives between fifteen and twenty-five percent of the recovery, depending on the extent of the whistleblower's contribution to the case. If the government does not join, and the whistleblower successfully prosecutes the case, the whistleblower will receive between 25 and 30 percent of the proceeds. In either case, if the action is successful, the whistleblower will be reimbursed for expenses incurred, including attorneys fees.

    However, there are some important restrictions in whistle blowing cases. Because the action is designed to encourage people with confidential knowledge to come forward, a whistle blowing action generally is not possible if there has already been a public disclosure of the information underlying the action. A whistleblower also can not recover if someone else has already filed an action on the basis of the same information. Only the first person to file such action gets the money. And whistle blowing actions can't be based on income tax fraud.

    The law in whistle blowing cases is highly complex. If you are thinking about bringing your concerns about a public interest matter to your employer's attention, or you feel that after raising a concern, you are being treated unfairly, it is recommend that you seek legal advice as soon as possible to maximize the protection available to you. Many business ethics cases can be transformed into whistle blowing cases by a slight change of emphasis or fact. Only extreme cases of moral wrong doing produce a duty of a member of a company to override the duty of loyalty to the organization and go public.