Whistleblower Protection Policy
What is Whistleblower protection policy? The first obligation from SOX that applies to all organizations is the requirement for a documented “whistleblower protection” policy. SOX requires all organizations, including nonprofits, to establish a means to collect, retain, and resolve claims regarding accounting, internal accounting controls, and auditing matters. The system must allow such concerns to be submitted anonymously. SOX provides significant protections to whistleblowers, and severe penalties to those who retaliate against them. The following comes directly from SOX, Section 806:
“…any officer, employee, contractor, subcontractor, or agent of such company, may not discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee in the terms and conditions of employment because of any lawful act done by the employee (1) to provide information, cause information to be provided, or otherwise assist in an investigation regarding any conduct that the employee reasonably believes constitutes a violation of section 1341, 1343, 1344, or 1348, any rule or regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or any provision of Federal law relating to fraud against shareholders, when the information or assistance is provided to or the investigation is conducted by
(A) a Federal regulatory or law enforcement agency;
(B) any Member of Congress or any committee of Congress; or
(C) a person with supervisory authority over the employee (or such other person working for the employer who has the authority to investigate, discover, or terminate misconduct)…”
Does your Human Resources division have systems in place that will satisfy the SOX requirement for all organizations to have a whistleblower policy? If not, policies and procedures should be developed that contain at least the following aspects:
• There is a confidential avenue for reporting suspected waste, fraud, and abuse.
• There is a process to thoroughly investigate any reports.
• There is a process for disseminating the findings from the investigation.
• The employee filing the complaint will not be subjected to termination, firing, harassment, or miss out on promotion.
• Even if the findings do not support the nature of the complaint, the employee or volunteer who made the complaint will not face any repercussions.
All employees and volunteers should have a copy of the whistleblower policy, and it should be posted in clear view. This policy should also be covered in any orientation or training programs the organization offers for its employees and volunteers.
[Sarbanes Oxley for Non Profits, Peggy M Jackson]
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