Many companies have whistleblower policies because they are required to do so under the Corporations Act2001 (Cth), because their parent may be required to have such a policy under foreign law, or because it is good corporate governance to do so. ASIC has been actively involved in promoting understanding of, and compliance with, the law on whistleblowers, issuing Regulatory Guide 270 Whistleblower Policies and info sheets 238 and 239, and writing to CEOs in October 2021 to remind them of their whistleblower obligations and the strengthened protection regime that started in July 2019. Whistleblower policies are topical at the moment because ASIC has now released its REP 758 Good practices for handling whistleblower disclosures.
ASIC Report 758: Good Practices for handling whistleblower disclosures
Regulatory Guide 270 set out ASIC’s views and guidance on good practice for whistleblower polices including a number of tips and action items. ASIC has since sampled 102 whistleblower policies in 2020 and later conducted reviews of ANZ Bank, AussieSuper, BHP, CBA, Netwealth Group, Treasury Wine Estates and Woolworths to understand what good practice looked like in the real world.
From a governance perspective, 2 key areas explored were Board oversight of whistleblowing programmes and Senior Executive Accountability for such programmes.
Board oversight: While the Corporations Act does not impose specific responsibility on a board for whistleblower policies, the board is ultimately...
Dish Wireless LLC agreed to pay roughly $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, common law, and the Communications Act of 1934 relating to claims submitted to Fed...