The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, T.D., has published the Protected Disclosure Bill 2013 which will establish a detailed and comprehensive legislative framework protecting whistleblowers in all sectors of the economy.
According to the Government the legislation will provide a comprehensive suite of employment and other protections to whistleblowers that are penalised by their employer or suffer a detriment from a third-party on account of raising concerns regarding possible wrongdoing in their workplace
The Minister stated that “The publication of this legislation represents a major step in the delivery of the Government’s programme of political reform. It provides for the first time a comprehensive whistleblower protection across all sectors of the economy addressing what has been identified – both nationally and internationally – as a significant gap in Ireland’s legal framework for combating corruption”
The legislation is intended to provide a robust statutory framework within which workers can now raise concerns regarding potential wrongdoing that has come to their attention in the workplace in the knowledge that they can avail of significant employment and other protections if they are penalised by their employer or suffer any detriment for doing so. The legislation also closely reflects international best practice recommendations on whistleblower protection made by, the G20/OECD, the UN and the Council of Europe and draws on recent developments in legislative models adopted or being put in place in other jurisdictions.
The Minister added "The publication of the Protected Disclosure Bill and its planned enactment in the autumn should instil all workers with confidence that should they ever need to take that decisive step and speak-up on concerns that they have about possible misconduct in the workplace, they will find that society values their actions as entirely legitimate, appropriate and in the public interest”
Key Features of the Bill
- Under the legislation, employees could be awarded up to five years' remuneration if they are found to have been unfairly dismissed for whistleblowing.
- They will also be able to bring an unfair dismissal case without previously accumulating the normally required one year's service.
- In making a protected disclosure, the whistleblower needs to reasonably believe that the information being disclosed shows or tends to show wrongdoing. However, deliberate false reporting will not be protected.
- The legislation will also seek, as far as possible, to protect the identity of the whistleblower.
-
The legislation provides a number of distinct disclosure channels for potential whistleblowers.
-
The framework which it is planned to put in place seeks to ensure that the worker is encouraged to raise any concern with his or her employer in the first instance by establishing the simple requirement that the whistleblower reasonably believes that the information being disclosed shows or tends to show wrongdoing
A copy of the Bill and an explanatory document can be found by clicking here.
