Employment (Business)

Whistle-blowing

Whistle-blowing is where an employee tells the public or someone in authority about activities within an organisation or company which they believe to be dishonest or illegal. In the 80's and 90's there were a series of high profile disasters following which it became apparent that employees of the companies involved knew there were health and safety breaches but were too scared to raise their concerns.

This prompted the enactment of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA).  This Act creates two levels of protection for whistleblowers and there is no financial cap on compensation or minimum period of employment requirement. Firstly, the dismissal of an employee will be automatically unfair if the reason, or principal reason, for their dismissal is that they have made a “protected disclosure.” The Act also protects workers as well as employees from being subject to any detriment on the grounds that they have made a “protected disclosure.”

Not all disclosures will trigger protection for whistleblowers under the PIDA as there are a number of tests that need to be satisfied which include whether an actual disclosure has been made (gathering evidence and threatening to 'tell' is not enough) and the subject matter of the disclosure.

It is a good idea for employers to have a whistleblowing policy in place which our Employment Team would be happy to advise you on. If it is too late for a policy and you have a situation involving whistleblowing, speak to us today to see how we can help you limit the damage.