Richard Nicolle comments to Financier Worldwide about the considerations for an employee before blowing the whistle at work, the protections available for them and how it works in practice.
The article looks at recent information that shows employees are still very hesitant to blow the whistle and that “nearly two-thirds of UK business managers would avoid whistleblowing for fear of damaging their careers”.
Richard comments:
“A whistleblower needs to weigh up what will be gained against the potential adverse repercussions. Being a high-profile whistleblower is unlikely to be seen favourably by potential employers, however justified the disclosure.”
Often, companies have policies that encourages employees to speak up against malpractice. On this, Richard says:
“Most companies and larger organisations have whistleblowing or ‘speak-up’ policies, but issues still arise in practice. An example of this is the approach adopted by Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, who sought to identify a whistleblower when this should have remained confidential. This could have been construed as an attempt to vilify rather than protect a whistleblower.”
The UK has brought in legislation to protect whistleblowers. The Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) was introduced in 1998, but there are questions around its suitability.
In the article, Richard comments:
“The PIDA could be amended to give employment tribunals power to compel employers to redress detriments suffered by whistleblowers, including full reinstatement if they have been dismissed for blowing the whistle (even in circumstances where the employers argues reinstatement is not appropriate) and action to protect them from victimisation.”
To read the full version of this article on the Financier Worldwide website, please click here.
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