Having already reported on the current status of the Whistleblower Directive (WB-Directive) and the progress of the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) - as an implementing law for the Directive - the time has finally come: The Bundestag passed the HinSchG on December 16, 2022. The aim of the law is to protect whistleblowers from reprisals if they report irregularities in the company. The protection provided by law relates, among other things, to dismissals, exclusions or other adverse consequences under labor law.
After many criticisms of the original draft, there are now a number of changes that companies will have to observe in the future. Although some of these criticisms have been incorporated into the wording of the law, legal uncertainties remain in various places.
The most important changes at a glance:
Anonymous reports
§ 16 (1) Sentence 4 HinSchG is probably the most significant change to the originally envisaged regulations. In response to criticism - which we believe was justified - companies will now be required to accept anonymous reports and subsequently process them. Despite fears that such an approach could be used for abusive reporting, the creation of a further incentive for internal reporting ultimately prevailed.
So far so good: anonymous reporting channels not only lower the "inhibition threshold" for submitting a corresponding (internal) report, but ultimately also promote the protection of the respective whistleblower.
In addition to preserving...
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