Whistleblowing: Proposed Amendment To Employment Rights Bill
A cross-party group of MP's is planning to put forward an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill in order to enhance whistleblowing protections by:-
- Broadening the scope of disclosures eligible for protection (i.e. that qualify as protected disclosures). Currently, this is confined to criminal offenses, a failure to comply with a legal obligations, miscarriages of Justice, health and safety dangers, environmental damage, and cover-ups in relation to the same. The Employment Rights Act proposes to add sexual harassment to this list, as we highlighted in a recent article.
- Extending whistleblowing protections to employee complaints, such as in relation to bullying, harassment, and discrimination, with employers under a legal duty to investigate such complaints
The cross-party group includes Sir Robert Buckland (Conservative), Margaret Hodge (Labour), and Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrats). The proposal is supported by the whistleblowing charity, Protect.
Survey
As we revealed in a recent article, research conducted by Bloomsbury Square Employment Law found that 51% of employees would not engage in whistleblowing out of fear of the consequences. Of this 51%, 45% were deterred by a fear of losing their job, 39% by concerns about bullying and harassment, and 36% by worries about potential breaches of confidentiality.
Comment
Commenting upon the proposed whistleblowing amendment to the Employment Rights Act, Margaret Hodge stated: "The time has come for larger employers to be compelled to investigate whistleblowing claims. We have seen far too often how companies avoid looking into difficult circumstances in the hope they go away, which, of course, means the problem festers and whistleblowers are demonised. As a beacon of democracy, the UK should be leading the world in whistleblowing legislation, not catching up with our European neighbours."
The chief executive of Protect, Elizabeth Gardiner, added: "There’s still a missing link in the chain between whistleblowing law and preventing harm to people and the country. When you speak up in the workplace, action should be taken – employers should be under a duty to investigate. Forty per cent of the callers to Protect’s whistleblowing advice line say when they’ve spoken up they’ve been ignored. Their concerns fall into a black hole, and the opportunity to stop harm is lost. This Employment Rights Bill should be the vehicle for change to give workers the confidence and legal backing that when they blow the whistle, action will be taken."
Graduates: Competition For Jobs Reaches Record High
New research conducted by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) has found that the average number of applicants for each graduate job increased by 59% to a record 140 compared to the previous year.
145 employers took part in the survey. These employers received in excess of 1.2 million applications in relation to just under 17000 vacancies.
Commenting upon the findings, the joint CEO of ISE, Stephen Isherwood, stated: "The current jobs market is tough for graduates with a considerable jump in applications per vacancy. While this marks a positive move from employers encouraging applications from a broader pool of candidates, the downside is that this amounts to millions of rejection messages to students in the last year. We have to realise the impact this can have on students. It’s important employers are transparent about the process, providing feedback where possible and managing the rejection process with care."
Isherwood added: "Applicant volumes have always outstripped vacancy levels and overall opportunities are still growing despite the challenging economic environment. To help their chances, students should try to focus their applications and get work experience as employers are hiring more and more former interns each year. AI can be useful to enhance applications, but they must be authentic otherwise candidates may find themselves in the wrong job."
