HR is usually heavily dominated with complaints from ‘whistleblowers’ regarding misconduct within the workplace, however, is the act of whistleblowing really a healthy thing to do for employees within the work environment?
Any HR person may argue that the act of ‘whistleblowing’ is essential to the ‘public interest’ regarding the disclosure of a wrongdoing. This means that any information revealed by the ‘whistleblower’ must not be trivial, but instead should help the public interest overall.
The right of an employee to the act of ‘whistleblowing’ was enacted in the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) 1998. Within the act, an employee can comfortably be a ‘whistleblower’ without fear of being discriminated against for doing so, as all employees are protected by the Employments Right Act 1996. If an employee is dismissed based upon ‘whistleblowing’, then this could ultimately then be decided as ‘unfair dismissal’.
Furthermore, any disclosures of information by the ‘whistleblower’ must be of a ‘Qualifying’ disclosure in nature, as the ‘whistleblower’ who is disclosing the information is doing so in the name of the public interest – such as a criminal act.
Therefore, in most businesses, the employer is expected to provide a ‘whistleblowing procedure’ for all employees, so that they may use this procedure should the occasion arise to do so, such as a ‘breach of conduct’.
However is the practice of ‘whistleblowing’ really a healthy workplace practice for employees to have a right to?
For instance, although the act of ‘whistleblowing’ serves the public interest, the employee who is ‘whistleblowing’ may experience after-effects inside and outside of the workplace. For example, the employee may feel guilty about ‘whistleblowing’ or nervous about what others may think of them, anxiety towards their employer and so forth, which is outside of their protection under law.
Thus, is the right to ‘whistleblowing’ really a practice that is used as much as it strives to be? Do the mental health issues that may occur following from the act of whistleblowing out-way the benefits that arise from notifying HR of misconduct?
Perhaps as a solution to the possible detrimental health effects that ‘whistleblowing’ may cause, the working environment should also focus more upon providing confidential therapy related services, so that all employees feel supported and thereby more motivated to protect the public interests in the act of ‘whistleblowing’.
About the Author
Portia Vincent-Kirby is the Legal PA and Public Relations Co-Ordinator at UK-based Hudson McKenzie. Portia specialises in handling the firm’s articles and newsletter, as well as managing the general PR of the firm overall. The information offered in this article is specific to UK law.
