Speaking Out: What impact will the EU whistleblowing law have on business transparency?
In the past few years, demands have been growing around the world for more accountability by businesses and governments – particularly since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. Indeed, the global pandemic has heightened issues around whistleblowing like never before.
Nevertheless, whistleblowers often still face dire consequences – often fatal – if they report on problems their superiors would rather the world didn't know about.
Dr Li Wenliang, in Wuhan China, was a case in point. Officially reprimanded for warning the world about Covid-19, he was then later ruthlessly silenced by the Wuhan public security bureau. In Poland, meanwhile, Renata Pizanowska, a nurse and midwife, was sacked for posting pictures on social media of her totally inadequate homemade surgical mask used by hospital staff for protection against the deadly virus.
Elsewhere, in the UK at the start of the pandemic, Linda Fairhall, an NHS nurse since 1979, was sacked after warning that the crippling workload NHS staff were under had led to a patient's death. After she raised the alarm she was summarily dismissed for concerns about her leadership capabilities.
Theoretically, this was all set to change on December 17, with the implementation of the EU's new whistleblowing directive that was due to be adopted into national laws by different EU states. The aim is a laudable one – to fight for more transparency from...
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