Fergal Dowling
Managing Partner - Business Services Group
Whistleblowing Policy Lawyers
A whistleblowing policy allows your staff to report any wrongdoing or malpractice to you. Our employment solicitors can help you create a policy for your business that explains how your employees can ‘blow the whistle’ and how your business will handle protected disclosures in compliance with the law.
What common whistleblowing issues could my business face?
It’s not always easy to determine if an employee is raising a grievance or is making a protected disclosure. Getting this wrong can put you at risk of unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claims.
Although you aren’t legally required to have a whistleblowing policy, having one shows your employees you’re willing to listen and act on their concerns and have a process to address them. This helps to create a positive work environment and open the lines of communication between you and your staff.
A clear policy helps you resolve issues internally and avoid legal claims from employees who have made protected disclosures. We’ll work with you to put a policy in place that’s easy to implement and protects your business.
If you are an employee and would like to talk about issues with your employer, visit our personal employment pages.
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Frequently Asked Questions
It’s best to speak to our employment solicitors if you think you might be facing a whistleblowing situation. We can assess the situation and give you practical advice on how to solve the issue and remain legally compliant.It’s not always easy to determine if an employee is raising a grievance or is making a protected disclosure. Getting this wrong can put you at risk of unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claims.
Whistleblowers are legally protected against unfair dismissal and poor treatment however long they’ve worked for you. You can face legal claims if you dismiss someone because they’ve raised a concern.
Not all complaints raised by employees are protected by whistleblowing legislation. Whistleblowing regulations only apply where employees raise certain issues in the public interest, such as:
- Criminal offences (like fraud)
- Not complying with a legal obligation (which can include complaints about their own contracts or working conditions if these also affect others in their workplace)
- A failure of justice
- Health and safety risks
- Environmental damage.
Sometimes, employees who’ve worked for you for less than two years, try to claim that their dismissal was linked to a whistleblowing complaint to get unfair dismissal rights. If they’re successful, they can receive substantial compensation. They can also apply to an Employment Tribunal for interim relief payments. This means they have to be paid in full until their case is decided which can be many months down the line.
This is a costly and time-consuming process for any business and following a clear whistleblowing policy will minimise the risk of these types of claims.
Employment team defend a financial company against a whistleblowing claim
We advised a company in the financial sector who was facing an Employment Tribunal claim.
Our employment team helped defend the company from a whistleblowing and unfair dismissal claim made by an employee that threatened to damage the company’s reputation. We gave a strong defence to the Employment Tribunal that included evidence of the employee’s unreasonable behaviour. Despite many interruptions to court proceedings, our lawyers made sure that all claims against our client were dropped.
"This was a complicated case that included a whistleblowing claim and an unfair dismissal claim. I’m pleased we could offer our expertise and that this led to a successful outcome for our client." Irwin Mitchell Solicitor
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