Legal
led to strong criticisms raised by unions over health and safety risks that these proposals would allegedly create Employers and any employees in managerial positions therefore need to be fully aware of how to deal with any acts of whistleblowing by employees.
Not having a policy is no defence At the moment, there is no legal requirement for an employer to have a whistleblowing policy, although good practice dictates that all employers should have one, and in fact a recent survey by Public Concern at Work found that 90 per cent of employers surveyed do have a policy in place. However, the survey also found that that less than half of all employees are aware of their employer’s whistleblowing policy and one-third of employers did not think or know whether their policy was effective. Not having a widely-known or effective policy will not help an employer defending an employment tribunal claim from an employee who claims they were not protected from reprisals after they blew the whistle.
Employers should ensure that they and their managers understand what constitutes whistleblowing, so that, if it occurs, it is identified. The employer
Not having a widely- known or effective policy will not help an employer defending an employment tribunal claim from an employee who claims they were not protected from reprisals
and its managers can then take steps to protect the whistleblowing employee from any detrimental treatment as a result, to reduce the risk of any subsequent tribunal claims.
Less likely to publicise concerns Employers should also make sure that their policy clearly explains to employees what they should do if they have any concerns about malpractice in the workplace. If employees know that there is a specific process to be followed
and a specific person to report their concerns to, they are less likely to take their concerns outside of the business, for example to an industry regulator or the media. This is particularly important in industries where allegations of malpractice (whether true or not) are likely to be of interest to a broad section of the public, such as the rail industry, where any alleged health and safety failings are likely to receive considerable media attention.
Given that the government is carrying out a review of the current whistleblowing legislation, plus the efforts of Public Concern at Work to have its code of practice made mandatory, it seems likely that a code of practice of some sort may well be introduced at some point in the future (although not necessarily imminently). In the meantime, however, rather than waiting for such future developments before putting in place appropriate safeguards, employers should consider acting now to ensure an effective and widely-known whistleblowing policy is in place and that their managers understand how and when to apply it.
•
Lee Ashwood is an associate in the Human Resources Practice Group at Eversheds.
www.eversheds.com
February 2014 Page 35
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