Four months after U.S. financial regulators opened a whistleblower office, a poll conducted by the law firm Labaton Sucharow,  shows that 78 percent of Americans said they would report wrongdoing in the workplace as long as they could do it anonymously, without retaliation, and claim a monetary award.  At the same time, 68 percent of those surveyed did not know the new SEC whistleblower program existed. The firm commissioned the telephone poll of 1,007 households. The agency's new program, which is part of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law, allows whistleblowers to remain anonymous and includes protections against employer retaliation. Tipsters who provide original and useful information about securities law violations can now earn up to 30 percent of the total penalty the SEC collects from a company. The Labaton Sucharow poll found that more than one-third of Americans surveyed had first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace. People with more education were more likely to become whistleblowers, the survey found, suggesting that more senior employees were privy to misconduct that could trigger a government enforcement action. In a November report, the SEC said it had received 334 whistleblower tips in the seven weeks between Aug. 12, when the rules took effect, and the financial year's end on Sept. 30. Jordan Thomas, who was an assistant director at the SEC, where he helped develop the whistleblower program and moved to Labaton Sucharow in June to launch the firm's whistleblower practice, devoted exclusively to representing people who report federal securities violations to the SEC  says the government expects the whistleblower office to have a significant effect on the cases brought in the future. Corporations mounted a fierce campaign to block the new rules, arguing that they could undermine companies' internal compliance programs. Business groups also warned that the new program could result in a barrage of frivolous tips from whistleblowers seeking hefty rewards.  [Reuters 12/12/11]