Whistleblowing: disclosures and legal protections

Whistleblowing is the term used when a worker passes on information about a wrongdoing in their workplace. You can raise your concern at any time about an incident that happened in the past, is happening now, or you believe will happen in the near future.

Although a whistleblower is entitled to a number of legal protections, whistleblowing – otherwise referred to as making a disclosure in the public interest – can be a courageous and risky course of action that may damage your career or lead to unfair dismissal. This is why you should seek expert legal advice at the earliest opportunity to avoid a potentially serious career setback.

At Penningtons Manches Cooper, our highly experienced team of employment lawyers will offer practical advice and support to workers who believe they may have been subjected to unfair treatment, harassment or victimisation, or been dismissed for making a disclosure that is in the public interest. Our aim will always be to help you to avoid pitfalls and prevent any potential reprisals and repercussions resulting from your whistleblowing. These could include demotion, restrictions to your role, withholding benefits or bonuses, pressure to resign or ‘cold shouldering’.

Fortunately, there are legal protections that provide the right for workers to take a case to an employment tribunal if they have suffered a detriment or been dismissed because they have ‘blown the whistle’. You are protected by law if you report any of the following: a criminal offence, failure to comply with a legal obligation, miscarriage of justice, health and safety infringement, damage to the environment or deliberate concealment of information relating to any of these.

However, personal grievances such as bullying, harassment and discrimination are not covered by whistleblowing law unless your particular case is in the public interest. These types of complaints should be reported via your employer’s grievance policy or bullying and harassment policy.

Whether or not a disclosure is covered by the whistleblowing legislation can be a complex question. Workers need to be sure that they are making the disclosure to the right category of person in order to be protected. These include their employer, HMRC, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and regulatory bodies such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As there are additional obligations on regulated employers and workers in the financial services sector, this can be another complex area. Taking early legal advice on whistleblowing cases is therefore vital.