Whistleblowers are protected from retaliation by state and/or federal laws, where relevant. This means that the federal government has statutes in place to protect whistleblowers when they are reporting crimes on an interstate level, while state governments have instituted similar protective legislation at the intestate level. Anyone terminated or otherwise discriminated against for acting as a whistleblower may have a civil action against his or her employer.
I don't think he would be considered a whistle-blower since he was not the one that reported the issues. Even if he went to "THE MAN" about the issues mentioned since it is already a known issue.