IU business professor studies whistle-blower’s disclosure of identity

IU Associate Professor of Business Law Jamie Prenkert co-authored a study on whistle-blowers which focused on when public disclosure of a whistle-blower’s identity crosses the line into discouraging employees from speaking out.

Prenkert said the idea for the study was born out of a real case at Belmont Abbey College, a private Catholic college in Belmont, N.C.

“That story really intrigued us,” Prenkert said.

In 2009, Belmont Abbey administrators decided to leave contraceptives out of health care coverage, and eight faculty members filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In response, the college sent out a mass email disclosing the identities of the faculty members and detailing the complaint.

“What really intrigued us was the idea of when can an employer call out the people publicly, and when does that cross the line into becoming retaliatory?” he said.

Although Prenkert said employers often must disclose the identity of whistle-blowers to some when dealing with a claim, sometimes they go too far.

“Employers can do that in a way that is beyond what’s necessary,” he said.

Prenkert said one of the things he thought was special about this study was that the authors also looked at current social science literature and identified characteristics that make whistle-blowers less likely or more likely to speak up.

“Those findings helped inform that framework (of the study),” he said.

The study will be published next month in the North Carolina Law review. Prenkert said he hopes the study will help to give better guidance to lawmakers in this area.

“The law is pretty muddled in this area,” he said. “We will probably send it to relevant congressional committees. We hope that judges will take notice.”

Prenkert said clearer law would help employers to better know the guidelines.

“What we really hope to bring forward is that there needs to be some greater clarity in the law,” he said.

— Hannah Smith