Whistleblowing Advice for Employees

Whistleblowing occurs if a worker reports wrongdoing in the workplace. The term ‘worker’ is widely defined to includes employees, agency workers and other workers that provide theirproviding services to an organisation. You will be protected from dismissal or a detriment arising from whistleblowing if you have made a protected disclosure to an appropriate person. 

A qualifying disclosure isYou should be disclosing the disclosure of information that is made in the public interest. It must show that:

• A criminal offence has been committed or is likely to be committed
• A person has failed, is failing or is likely to fail to comply with any legal obligation they are subject to
• A miscarriage of justice has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur
• The health or safety of any individual has been, is being or is likely to be endangered
• The environment has been, is being or is likely to be damaged, or
• Information tending to show aAny matter falling within any one of the preceding criteria has been, is being or is likely to be deliberately concealed

For the disclosure of information to be ‘protected’, you must make the disclosure to either the person responsible for the relevant failure, in other words your employer or their representative, or to an external person such as a legal adviser or government minister. A disclosure to the press or pressure group will be ‘protected’ if the disclosure is not made for personal gain and is reasonable in the circumstances.

A disclosure of information is in the ‘public interest’ if the act complained of affects the rights of a large group of people or if it materially affects the rights of a small group of people.  

Your employer cannot dismiss you or treat you detrimentally because you have made a protected disclosure. Detrimental treatment may include: a reduction in your hours of work, demotion or unjustified disciplinary action. 

If you have been dismissed for making a protected disclosure, you will be entitled to bring a claim for unfair dismissal to the Employment Tribunal. It is important that you are able to show that the protected disclosure resulted in your dismissal.

An allegation of wrongdoing in the workplace should be communicated to a person who is responsible for the relevant failure. This could be your employer or their representative, such as the human resources representative or your manager.

The information that you disclose must be more than a suspicion or belief. It should be information that you know or reasonably believe to be true. You must reasonably believe that this information constitutes an act of wrongdoing.  If you do not make the disclosure of information in ‘good faith’, the Employment Tribunal will deduct any compensation payable to you (for unfair dismissal) by up to 25%.