Employment Law Solicitors: Whistleblowing   Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (which amended the Employment Rights Act 1996), the following disclosures are “protected disclosures”:-

• Crime

   

• Environmental damage

   

• Infractions re health & safety

   

• Miscarriages of justice

   

• Non-compliance with a legal duty

   

• Cover ups in relation to the above

An employee can make a protected disclosure against their employer so long as it is in good faith and they had a “reasonable belief” that one of the above offences had been committed. The disclosure can be made either to their employer or a “prescribed person” (e.g. regulatory authority). They can make the disclosure public (e.g. by notifying the press) only once they have first disclosed it to their employer or a prescribed person and they had reasonable reason to believe that no effective action was going to be taken. Alternatively, they can make it public should they not have disclosed it first to their employer or the prescribed person if the reason for not disclosing it to them was that they had a reasonable cause to fear reprisals should they do so, or that evidence would be tampered with or disappear. Where the offence is especially serious, an employee may disclose it in to the public arena without first having to disclose it to their employer or a prescribed person.

 

The Employment Law Solicitors, the brand, is part of Antrobus Solicitors, a firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Details of the professional rules which regulate solicitors can be found at the following website address: http://www.rules.sra.org.uk