Whistleblowing - the uphill challenge

A 'whistle blower' is a person employed in an organisation who reports certain types of wrongdoing. This is usually something that the person has seen at work (though not always). It is important to ensure that the wrong doing disclosed by the employee is in the public interest. This means that it must affect others, for example.

The law protects whistle blowers in that they should not be treated unfairly or lose their job because they have 'blown the whistle'. It is possible to raise concerns about past incidents, those which are happening now or incidents which the employee believes will happen in the future.

The law protects employees if they report activities such as a criminal offence, someone's health and safety being in danger, their company breaking the law etc. Personal grievances such as bullying or harassment are not covered by whistle blowing.

Organisations are expected to have effective whistle blowing procedures in place.

The whistle blowing charity Public Concern at Work has analysed employment tribunal judgements between 2011 and 2013 and shown that only 44% of claimants in whistle blowing cases had legal representation. Furthermore of those whistle blowers who were not represented by a lawyer this group is 'significantly' likely to succeed in their claim. Only 32% of those who represented themselves won their case as opposed to 44% of those with legal representation.

The Chief Executive of Public Concern at Work, Cathy James, has said

'while the law is intended to level the playing field this report shows the barriers to justice faced by whistle blowers when accessing the courts and demonstrates the 'David and Goliath' battle often faced by whistle blower claimants'.

If you would like advice on this or any other employment related issue contact us.