South Africa2024–2026 (ongoing)
The Madlanga Commission and the criminal justice system
Political interferenceRetaliationSilencing
A live, mainstream judicial commission investigating criminality, political interference, and corruption inside South Africa's criminal justice system. Hearings have examined how senior officials and investigators were allegedly removed, sidelined, or pressured when their work threatened powerful interests. The commission's final report deadline has been extended to November 2026.
The tell: When law-enforcement and oversight roles are treated as political appointments, the people inside them become targets. Independence is a workplace-safety issue.
Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System↗South Africa2018–2022 (prosecutions ongoing)
The Zondo Commission and state capture
RetaliationSilencingSidelining
A mainstream, multi-year judicial inquiry that dominated South African news coverage. Alongside procurement corruption, the record described a clear workplace pattern: employees who raised concerns were transferred, suspended, investigated, or pushed out, while compliant staff were promoted. The abuse of people was the mechanism that kept the corruption running, and prosecutions and institutional reform continue today.
The tell: Where corruption is systemic, the workplace culture is the enforcement layer. Mass exits from compliance, audit, and legal roles are one of the loudest structural tells.
Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, final reports↗United Kingdom1999–present
Post Office Horizon scandal
DistortionBlame-shiftingRetaliation
More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted over shortfalls caused by faulty Horizon accounting software. Internal warnings were dismissed, and people who insisted the numbers were wrong were treated as the problem. The statutory inquiry has documented how institutional defensiveness outlasted the evidence.
The tell: When an organisation defends a system instead of investigating a pattern of identical complaints, individual workers get reframed as the fault.
Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry↗Australia / global operations2022
Everyday Respect report
HarassmentBullyingOrbit exclusion
Rio Tinto commissioned and published an external review of its own workplace culture. It found widespread bullying and sexual harassment, and, critically, that reporting was seen as career-ending, so most incidents never reached a formal process.
The tell: A low complaint count is not evidence of a healthy culture. It is often evidence that reporting is understood to be unsafe.
Rio Tinto, Everyday Respect report↗Australia2021
Set the Standard: review of Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces
HarassmentPower abuseSilencing
The Australian Human Rights Commission review found that a majority of people in parliamentary workplaces had experienced bullying, sexual harassment, or sexual assault, and traced it to concentrated power, weak accountability, and employment that depended on one individual's goodwill.
The tell: Structural dependency, where one person controls your job, your reference, and your access, reliably produces abuse unless it is deliberately counterweighted.
Australian Human Rights Commission, Set the Standard↗United Kingdom2023–present
Harassment claims across UK franchises
HarassmentRetaliation
After hundreds of workers came forward, the Equality and Human Rights Commission entered a legally binding agreement with McDonald's UK on protecting staff from sexual harassment, with continued reporting since.
The tell: Franchised and decentralised structures diffuse accountability; regulators increasingly hold the brand responsible for conditions on the floor.
Equality and Human Rights Commission↗Democratic Republic of the Congo2021
Independent Commission on abuse during the Ebola response
Power abuseCover-upSilencing
An independent commission established by the World Health Organization found widespread sexual exploitation and abuse by responders, and management failures that let it continue, including reports that went nowhere and staff who were discouraged from escalating.
The tell: Mission-driven urgency is frequently used to justify not pausing for accountability. It is one of the most common cover stories for institutional harm.
WHO, Independent Commission report↗United Kingdom2023
Confederation of British Industry misconduct review
HarassmentHR captureSilencing
An independent legal review of the CBI found that the organisation had failed to filter out 'culturally toxic' hires and had not acted adequately on complaints, leading to leadership departures and member resignations.
The tell: When the internal complaints function reports to the people complained about, the process protects the institution rather than the worker.
CBI, independent review statement↗United States2019–present
Boeing safety culture and whistleblower retaliation
SilencingRetaliationCover-up
Following two fatal 737 MAX crashes and the 2024 door-panel incident, congressional and FAA hearings have documented a workplace culture in which engineers who raised safety concerns described pressure, retaliation, and fear of career consequences. A 2024 expert review panel found a 'disconnect' between senior management and employees, and safety reporting systems that workers did not trust.
The tell: When production pressure outranks safety voice, the people closest to risk learn to stop speaking. A silent reporting channel is not the same as a trusted one.
FAA, Boeing safety culture review↗Stay current
Get new cases as they break
We add cases as inquiries report and tribunals rule, with the behavior pattern named each time.