Whistleblowing is an important mechanism to uncover and prevent illegal or unethical activities within an organization. To strengthen the protection of Whistleblowers across member states, the European Union adopted the Directive 2019/1937/EU on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, which requires all member states to implement certain minimal standards.
In Austria, the Directive has been transposed in the "HinweisgeberInnenschutzgesetz – HSchG", which entered into force on February 25, 2023. The HSchG requires companies with 250 or more employees to establish a whistleblower system as of August 25, 2023, and companies with 50 to 249 employees to do so as of December 17, 2023. This system must, among other things, ensure the confidentiality of the whistleblower's identity and provide for the possibility to follow-up on the report.
As outlined, legal entities which employ more than 50 employees are obliged to establish an internal whistleblowing system. The threshold of 50 employees applies per legal entity (and not group-wide). As soon as a subsidiary in Austria has more than 50 employees, there is an obligation to set up an internal channel. The HSchG applies to legal entities located in Austria. It makes no difference, if the parent company is located outside the EU, the Austrian subsidiary must still comply with the HSchG in case the threshold is met. If the number of employees fluctuates, the average...
A TOP police officer has been reported to a policing watchdog for making “false and inflammatory statements” about Palestine marches. The Palestine Coalition, an umbrella group which organises dem...