Retaliation against whistle blowers in most definitely on the rise. Scharfenberg (2007) explains how, despite having a federal protection system in place, retaliation remains a problem. I feel part of the reason for this is the fact that others in the company feel betrayed by their coworkers for blowing the whistle. There are times when being a team player and keeping the team's best interest as heart is different from whistle blowing, but, there are times when the two are one in the same. There are times when the misconduct hurts the team, or company, more than remaining quiet about it. In these situations, it actually helps the team for the whistle blower to act.

Scharfenberg, Christa (2007). Federal "whistleblower" protection system is anything but.