On 7 December 2017, the Australian Government took a further step towards whistleblower reform by introducing the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Bill 2017 into the Senate (‘Whistleblower Bill’). The Whistleblower Bill seeks to consolidate whistleblower protections in the… Read more

The Court of Appeal has overturned the EAT ruling in Royal Mail v Jhuti, although a further appeal has been filed.  The EAT had ruled that the reason for a dismissal can be the employee's whistleblowing, even where the decision-maker… Read more

The Government has released draft legislation significantly amending whistleblower laws: Treasury Laws Amendment (Whistleblowers) Bill 2017 (the Bill). Through a series of interlocking amendments to various Acts, the Bill seeks to consolidate whistleblower protections in the corporate, financial and credit… Read more

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has published its response paper on UK corporate governance reform, following on from the green paper which it published in November 2016. ... Read more

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services has proposed widespread reform to whistleblowing legislation in Australia. Together with Disputes, we have published an article on our website on the Committee's recommendations, which signal the direction any law reform in this area may… Read more

The EAT in International Petroleum Ltd v Osipov has made clear that an employee can bring a whistleblowing detriment claim against a fellow worker in relation to their actions in dismissing him (for which the employer may be vicariously liable),… Read more

Employers should not assume that the disclosure of an alleged breach of employment contract will necessarily be outside the scope of whistleblowing protection. The Court of Appeal has confirmed in Chesterton Global Ltd v Nurmohamed that disclosure of private workplace disputes… Read more

The FCA and PRA have recently published new rules on whistleblowing procedures for UK branches of foreign banks and insurers, which will apply from 7 September 2017. UK branches will need to ensure their staff are informed of the option of… Read more

Employers should note that agency workers may be able to bring whistleblowing claims against both the end-user and the third party introducer. The fact that an individual is a worker for one party does not inevitably prevent them from also… Read more

A recent Court of Appeal decision has highlighted the need for caution when dismissing an employee for making a disclosure. If objectively the tribunal determines that it was a protected disclosure, the dismissal will be automatically unfair even where the… Read more

The FCA and PRA have recently published new rules on whistleblowing procedures for UK branches which will apply from 7 September 2017. In October 2015 the FCA and PRA introduced new rules requiring relevant deposit-takers and firms to introduce internal… Read more

On 6 December 2016, a number of amendments to the Labor Standards Act (Act), relating to rest days, national holidays, annual leave, breaks between shifts, pay slips and whistle-blower protections, were passed by the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan. The amendments… Read more

The EAT has confirmed that the reason for a dismissal can be the employee's whistleblowing, even where the decision-maker is unaware of this, if their decision has been manipulated by a manager aware of the protected disclosure and motivated by… Read more

A recent EAT ruling has highlighted that, in many cases, the prospects of striking out a whistleblowing claim at a preliminary hearing on the basis of lack of public interest will be minimal. In particular, where the claimant raises an… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has published the first edition of a Global Guide to Whistleblowing, providing a quick reference guide to the law and culture around employees 'blowing the whistle' in 40 key jurisdictions covering in EMEA, the Americas and Asia… Read more

GEO new guide for employers on Recruitment and Retention of Transgender Staff. Guidance from the Committee on Standards in Public Life on how public authorities and companies offering outsourced public services can maintain ethical standards, including recommendations to implement a… Read more

A recent decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (Bergman v Neo@Ogilvy LLC) held that the Dodd-Frank Act protects employee whistleblowers who report wrongdoing internally to their employer, in addition to employees who report wrongdoing to the Securities and… Read more

An employment tribunal was wrong to strike out a whistleblowing unfair dismissal claim on the basis that a disclosure concerning alleged breaches of the contracts of only four employees could not involve 'public interest'. ... Read more

The FCA and the PRA have both published policy statements on their new rules on whistleblowing: FCA policy statement (PS15/24) entitled "Whistleblowing in deposit-takers, PRA-designated investment firms and insurers"; and PRA policy statement (PS24/15), also entitled "Whistleblowing in deposit-takers, PRA-designated… Read more

Whistleblowing law was amended in June 2013 to make protection conditional on the worker holding a reasonable belief that disclosure was in the "public interest" (as a form of quid pro quo for the removal of the requirement for disclosures… Read more

BIS has published Guidance for employers on whistleblowing, available here. It contains recommendations for writing and promoting whistleblowing policies, and a code of best practice. We have recently updated our multi-jurisdictional guide discussing potential employee issues in business transfers (first… Read more

The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Bill also received Royal Assent on 26 March, though commencement orders will be needed to bring the employment provisions into force. ... Read more

The Business Secretary is reported to have launched a review of employment tribunal fees in light of inaction from the Ministry of Justice (see here). The findings are to be published 'in a few weeks'. Section 56 of the Data Protection… Read more

The usual territorial limits for unfair dismissal claims apply to whistleblowing claims for automatically unfair dismissal or detriment, according to a recent EAT ruling. ... Read more

On September 22, the SEC reported that it expected to provide an award of more than $30 million to a whistleblower who provided key information which led to a successful SEC enforcement action. The award is the highest made by… Read more

The Government has published a consultation seeking views by 30 September 2014 on how to implement the proposed duty on prescribed persons to produce annual reports on whistleblowing. The Chartered Insurance Institute has published a set of guidance on whistleblowing as part of… Read more

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Liu Meng-Lin v. Siemens AG, 13-4385-cv (2d Cir. N.Y. Aug. 14, 2014) upheld a lower-court's decision to grant Defendant Siemens' motion to dismiss a claim alleging wrongful termination brought by… Read more

 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have proposed not to introduce financial incentives for whistleblowers, concluding that introducing financial incentives would be unlikely to improve the number or quality of disclosures received from whistleblowers (see here).… Read more

The last several months have seen several important developments related to whistleblower employee protections in the United States. ... Read more

Following proposals outlined in the Queen's Speech, the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill has now been published. It includes the following reforms: ... Read more