Recent case highlights importance of implementing a Whistleblowing Policy

Thursday, 02 March 2017

There have been a number of recent decisions under Irish whistleblowing legislation and the following considers how such legislation might affect employers in the insurance and financial services sectors and also highlights the importance of ensuring that an appropriately drafted whistleblowing policy exists in the workplace. 

Click here to read full details of the case

A Whistleblowing Policy should prescribe how, and to whom, disclosures should be made in an organisation and workers should be provided with a copy of the policy. The 2014 Act does not state that disclosures must be made in writing and under a whistleblowing policy to qualify as disclosures made to the employer. However, this case shows that it may be more difficult for a worker to prove that a disclosure was made on a particular date, and the nature of the disclosure, if the disclosure is not made in writing and, where a policy exists in an organisation, it is not made in the manner prescribed in that policy.

For further advice on drafting your organisation's whistleblowing policy, contact Emmet Whelan, Partner in the ByrneWallace Employment Law Team.