Fifth of Covid whistleblowers 'dismissed'

Nearly half of employees with worries about coronavirus have been ignored by employers, and a fifth of whistleblowers dismissed for raising concerns according to the Protect charity.

Protect says that of 600 Covid-related calls received by its advice line the majority were over furlough fraud and safety risks such as a lack of social distancing and PPE in the workplace.

It found that:

• 41% of whistleblowers had Covid-19 concerns ignored by employers;

• 20% of whistleblowers were dismissed for raising Covid-19 concerns;

• managers were more likely to be dismissed for raising Covid-19 concerns, with 32% of managers compared with 21% of non-managers losing their jobs; and

• furlough fraud came mostly from very small organisations – 76% of callers described the company size as between one and 49 employees.

https://protect-advice.org.uk/41-whistleblowers-covid-concerns-including-public-safety-disclosures-ignored-by-employers