Max Williamson, chief executive of CareersinAudit.com, writes:
Isn’t anyone going to do anything to help the whistleblowers?
When you consider the amount of time we have invested in ensuring equal rights in the workplace doesn’t it seem strange that we’ve done nothing to help this most unfortunate of all minority groups?
Whistleblowing is a thankless task. Whether or not the accusations are proved correct, it is almost inevitable that the employee who takes such a step will lose their job and ironically find themselves out of the company before the accused...
Whistleblowers play essential roles in ensuring standards of safety and guarding against financial misconduct. Even in highly regulated industries such as auditing and accounting, a recent survey conducted by CareersinAudit.com revealed that nearly three in four accountants do not believe their firms do enough to protect whistleblowers from victimisation or dismissal.
Important steps have been taken recently at least to assist those who have lost their jobs to claim unfair dismissal. A judgment this year decided that when a whistleblower is sacked or forced to resign, they need to have had only a "reasonable belief" that malpractice was happening to be able to claim for unfair dismissal.
And yet while this will help those who have suffered unfair dismissal, it doesn’t really solve the root problem that the person should never have lost their job in the first place. Are we happy with this or should we just continue to waste hours deleting the words ‘energetic’, ‘dynamic’ and ‘mature’ from every perfectly suitable job description?
For more information:
Employers may offer whistleblowing hotlines for staff, but few offer training for managers or workers. So is UK employees' confidence in whistleblowing legislation misplaced?
Simon Webley, research director at the Institute of Business Ethics, and Linda Farrell, partner at international law firm Bristows, share their views in the article Whistleblowing: head to head.
Whistleblowing: Legal Q&A
The Daily Mail highlighted the case of a community centre employee who was victimised after she exposed a colleague as a convicted sex offender who had won her whistleblowing claim.
Find out:
• What lessons can employers learn from this case?
• Are employers required to introduce whistleblowing policies?
• Why would we introduce a whistleblowing policy if we are not legally required to do so?
• What does the legislation cover?
• Who do whistleblowing rights apply to?
• So what should we do if a worker is victimised for raising a genuine concern?
• What if unfounded allegations are made maliciously?
