Whistleblowing

Basic legal rules


Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), employees and workers who disclose information about alleged wrongdoing at work (whistleblowing) have some specific statutory rights to protection. These include the right not to suffer a detriment or (for employees) to be unfairly dismissed for making a protected disclosure. Co-workers can be personally liable when they cause someone a detriment for blowing the whistle. 



Whistleblowing protection is available for disclosures of information about a criminal offence, such as insurance fraud or tax avoidance, failure to comply with a legal obligation, health and safety, damage to the environment, a miscarriage of justice and a belief that information about any of the above is being concealed. 



To be protected the worker or employee must have reasonably believed their disclosure to be in the public interest. Disclosures should be made to the employer or to one of a statutory list of “prescribed persons”.



Whistleblowing laws are extremely complicated, so it is always sensible to seek expert advice before blowing the whistle. One of the best sources of expert advice is national whistleblowing charity Protect (previously called “Public Concern at Work). It runs a dedicated helpline. Information is available from its website: www.pcaw.org.uk.



key developments 


•  A claimant whose only motivation was to clear his own name was unable to demonstrate a reasonable belief that his disclosure was in the public interest, so his claim failed (case 6).