Whistleblowing is one of those areas that many people feel uncomfortable about - the school sneak still has connotations about it. But it is a highly effective way of rooting out bad practice and even criminality in the workplace, and the law increasingly recognises and protects those who blow the whistle.
The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 made it unlawful to dismiss or take other detrimental action against workers for making a 'protected disclosure'. A disclosure qualifies for protection if it consists of information which in the reasonable belief of the employee tends to show that the existence of a crime or other legal breach.
But the employee is only protected if the disclosure is made in one of a number of specified circumstances including that they made it to their employer in good faith. In the first case to reach the Court of Appeal, they said "There are obvious tensions, public and private, between the legitimate interest in the confidentiality of the employer's affairs and in the exposure of wrong".
The judgement went on to stress the need for properly thought out policies in the workplace. Employer sometimes baulk at this, worrying that it just encourages troublemakers. The opposite is true, as an appropriate procedure is likely to put the worker outside the protection if he makes a disclosure without exhausting internal procedures.
The evidence for a sound policy which encourages workers to raise their concerns internally is demonstrated by the steady rise in Employment Tribunal applications since 1999 to a total of 1358 in 2006/07. Most of those cases are settled beforehand and the majority of cases in Tribunal are won but employers should not be complacent as the awards have averaged at £107,000.
A well drafted policy would include:
- A desire to be informed of 'wrongdoing'
- A name or names of senior people to contact
- A commitment to investigate and give feedback
- An assurance that anonymity will be preserved if required
- An assurance that a genuine complaint even if not substantiated will not be held against the person who raised it
- A reminder that disclosing information without using the procedure renders them liable to disciplinary action
