The past decade has seen a ten-fold increase in the number of workers sacked, mistreated or bullied for whistleblowing, official figures have shown.
According to employment tribunal statistics, the number of people using whistleblowing legislation increased from 157 cases in 1999 to 1,791 in 2009, the Guardian reports.
Campaigners are concerned that whistleblowers are being undermined or removed from their jobs, despite the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which was created to stop the victimisation of workers who have exposed wrongdoing in their workplace.
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Catherine Wolthuizen, director of the charity Public Concern at Work, which collated the information, said: “Each claim is evidence of a breakdown in relations between employer and employee.
“Our report suggests British employees are not being told that it is safe and acceptable to speak up about wrongdoing in their workplace.”
