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The law provides protection for workers who report any malpractice by their employers or third parties against dismissal or any form of detriment. With these protections in place, why are people reluctant to blow the whistle? As demonstrated by the recent headlines surrounding historical allegations against Russell Brand, people still fear coming forward and reporting malpractice and misconduct in the workplace.
Some workers may hold a belief that an organisation does not want them to blow the whistle or that if they do, they will lose their job or damage their own reputation. To avoid this, employers should have in place a whistleblowing policy in place setting out the procedure a worker should follow if they wish to raise a concern and the protections in place for them should they do so.
In terms of who is protected, the definition of worker is wider than that which is contained within the Employment Rights Act so, an employer will need to be mindful of this when setting out who its whistleblowing policy applies to.
Whether a whistleblower qualifies for protection is subject to them making a protected qualified disclosure. A disclosure of information must be made, and the worker must reasonably believe that the information disclosed identifies one of six types of failure, malpractice or wrongdoing set out in legislation. The disclosure must also be in the public interest. This does not need to be the public interest per se but could be, for example, the wider workforce.
Following the historic allegations made against Russell Brand, the entities that he worked for at the time of the alleged allegations have come under scrutiny for his behavior. With the possibility of an employer being held vicariously liable for the actions of those they are responsible for, it is important that any unacceptable conduct or malpractice reported are investigated promptly and dealt with in an appropriate manner.
A review of the current whistleblowing framework is ongoing and Protect, the whistleblowing charity, is also campaigning for a change to expand protection to other groups. However, there is no substantial sign that the existing legislation will be updated any time soon.
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