Draft version 1.7 beta — Revised October 24, 2026
← Return to the table in Chapter 4, § 5
Retaliation against a whistleblower who acts in good faith
A topic page linked from Chapter 4, § 5, Examples of Reported Violations of Enforceable Ethics Codes.
Definitions
This topic was also discussed in Chapter 6, section 3.3.
Black's Law Dictionary 1 offers the following relevant definitions for retaliation:
retaliation, n. (16c) 1. The act of doing some harm in return for actual or perceived injuries or wrongs; an instance of reprisal, requital, or revenge.
employment retaliation (1978) An adverse employment action taken because an employee has engaged in a legally protected activity.
The Geological Society of America's Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct 2 states that "retaliation means punishing someone for engaging in a legally protected activity. Generally this involves taking adverse action against individuals because they have complained about a legal or policy violation..." It is my understanding that whistleblowing is a legally protected activity under US Federal and State laws.
Black's Law Dictionary 3 provides this to help us understand the concept of whistleblowing:
whistleblower. n. (1970) An employee who reports employer wrongdoing to a governmental or law-enforcement agency. • Federal and state laws protect whistleblowers from employer retaliation.
whistleblower act. (1984) A federal or state law protecting employees from retaliation for properly disclosing employer wrongdoing such as violating a law or regulation, mismanaging public funds, abusing authority, or endangering public health or safety. • Federal laws containing whistleblower provisions include the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, CERCLA [Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980], and the Air Pollution and Control Act.
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study report Fostering Integrity in Research (2017) 4,...
A whistleblower is someone who in good faith brings concerns about possible research misconduct or detrimental research practices to the attention of others within or outside the organization where misconduct or detrimental research practices might be occurring. Concerns can be raised informally or in formal allegations...
ASBOG included retaliation against whistleblowers as one of the 13 ethical issues in its Task Analysis surveys in 2010 and 2015, each of which was completed by a few thousand respondents—professional geoscientists and academics in the United States and Canada.5-7 The results of those surveys indicated that retaliation against whistleblowers was considered a very serious problem — among the most serious of the 13 ethics issues in the survey. The survey results also indicated that those surveyed thought such retaliation seldom occurred. However, being the subject of retaliation for whistleblowing might tend to make a person reluctant to report the retaliation, so I think it likely that the frequency statistics might be understated.
Relevant provisions in geoethics codes
AGU – § V; GSA – § 4.2b, separate policy document "Whistleblower Policy & Procedure Purpose."
Code Abbreviations
- AGU — American Geophysical Union, AGU Scientific Integrity and Professional Ethics (2023), Link to current document
- GSA — Geological Society of America, GSA Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct (2023), Link to current document
Notes and References
1 Garner, B.A. [editor], 2024, Black's Law Dictionary [12th edition]: St. Paul, MN, Thompson Reuters, ISBN 979-8-350-29089-9, 2071 p.; quoted definitions are on p. 1576.
2 Geological Society of America, 2023, GSA Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct, accessed October 26, 2026, via this link; quoted definition is on page 6.
3 Garner, B.A. [editor], 2024, Black's Law Dictionary [12th edition]: St. Paul, MN, Thompson Reuters, ISBN 979-8-350-29089-9, 2071 p.; quoted definitions are on p. 1918.
4 NASEM, 2017, Fostering Integrity in Research: Washington, D.C., The National Academy Press, 310 p., https://doi.org/10.17226/21896, ISBN 978-0-309-39125-2, accessible via nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21896/fostering-integrity-in-research. The blockquote is from page 27.