The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently announced that it had awarded nearly $200 million (approximately 148 million) to a single whistleblower. To date, this is not only the largest ever CFTC whistleblower award, but also the largest ever to a single whistleblower under any whistleblower programme. With substantial sums on offer as well as large fines faced by organisations for wrongdoing, this case is a timely reminder of the importance of the bounty claims available under the US whistleblowing protection and the ongoing absence of anything equivalent in the UK.

In this article, employment law partner Clive Howard compares the current US whistleblower awards programmes operated by the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the protections for whistleblowers available in the UK and considers whether a US-style approach would encourage more whistleblowers to come forward in the UK.

Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

Whistleblowers in the UK are protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), which amends the Employment Rights Act 1996. The PIDA protects employees and workers who blow the whistle about wrongdoing:

• The legislation protects workers from being subjected to any detriment on the grounds that they have blown the whistle by making a “protected disclosure” (essentially a disclosure alleging the employer has acted unlawfully), and the detriments can include refusal to offer promotion, denial of training or...

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