The Psychosocial Impacts of Whistleblower Retaliation : Shattering Employee Resilience and the Workplace Promise

This book analyzes the harms related to whistleblower retaliation, its psychosocial impacts on employees, and the institutional dysfunction it creates and perpetuates. Stigma and biases against whistleblowers interfere with their ability to make protected disclosures when harm to others is at stake. Retaliatory toxic tactics create an atmosphere and corporate culture that embodies fear and encourages bystander behavior. In this book, the authors explore psychosocial impacts across domains that include financial, legal, social, physical, and emotional well-being. Ten of the 14 chapters specifically examine the toxic tactics of retaliation: gaslighting, mobbing, marginalizing, shunning, devaluing, double-binding, career blocking, counter-accusing, bullying, and doxxing. These toxic tactics are the building blocks of workplace traumatic stress (WTS) and can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse, and suicide. WTS is a term that differentiates between workplace violence or job stress, which can be components of WTS but do not fully describe the systemic hostile work environment that targets an employee. Understanding WTS and how it disrupts identity, causes moral injury, and shatters world views are important aspects for clinicians treating clients who are victims of this kind of hostile work environment. The Psychosocial Impacts of Whistleblower Retaliation is a useful resource offering a new way for social workers, mental health providers, advocates, and other support services professionals and practitioners to assist whistleblowers. It helps clinicians understand how to view patients suffering from whistleblower retaliation and gives them a lexicon for forensic evaluations. Lawyers, especially those specializing in employment, labor, and Qui Tam cases, also could benefit from having a means to describe the psychosocial impacts of retaliation and WTS on their clients when filing for compensatory damages for pain and suffering during judicial proceedings. Finally, the book could appeal to employees and managers, human resources professionals, victim rights advocates, elected officials, media personnel, and other professionals who are interested in learning more about whistleblower retaliation and its psychosocial and cultural implications. Preface Acknowledgments About the Book Contents About the Authors Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: Morality, Virtue, and Ethics Whistleblowers Experience Ethical Dissonance and Moral Injury Whistleblower Retaliation Is the Second Serious Injury The Mechanisms of Whistleblowing Micro-Level Understanding of Whistleblowing Macro-Level Understanding of Whistleblowing Societal Understanding of Whistleblowing Whistleblowing and Workplace Traumatic Stress An Introduction to the Whistleblower Retaliation Checklist Workplace Traumatic Stress (WTS) References Part II: Toxic Culture and Tactics Chapter 2: Toxic Leaders and Their Impact References Chapter 3: Gaslighting Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impact Organizational Impact Conclusion References Chapter 4: Mobbing Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusions References Chapter 5: Marginalizing Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impact Cultural Implications Conclusions References Chapter 6: Shunning Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusion References Chapter 7: Devaluing Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusions References Chapter 8: Double Binding Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusions References Chapter 9: Career Blocking Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusions References Career Blocking Chapter 10: Counteraccusing Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Culture Implications Conclusions References Chapter 11: Bullying Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusions References Chapter 12: Doxxing Definition and Context Individual Psychosocial Impacts Cultural Implications Conclusions References Part III: The Scope of Harm and Damages Chapter 13: Psychosocial and Cultural Implications Suicide and Self-Harming Behaviors Legal Impacts of Retaliation Financial Impacts of Retaliation Social Impacts of Retaliation Family Members as the Secondary Trauma Victims of Retaliation Emotional Impacts of Retaliation Ethical Dissonance, Grief, and Moral Injury Applying Moral Injury to the Whistleblower Framework Moral Restoration and Recovery Differentiating Moral Injury from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Diagnosis Physical Stress-Related Conditions Conclusion References Part IV: The Workplace Promise Chapter 14: Implications for Organizations References Index