Until recently, employees who reported the shortcomings and legal infringements of their own employers risked facing disciplinary action or even the termination of their employment. This is to change in the future and whistleblowers will be better protected in the professional environment. The Whistleblower Protection Directive (2019/1937) laid the foundation for this change as early as the end of 2019 at EU law level. The Directive was, in fact, supposed to be implemented into national legislation by December last year. However, the German legislature failed to do so. The infringement proceedings initiated against Germany seem to have provided the German legislature with further motivation. Meanwhile, an approximately 100-page governmental draft of the German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) has been presented to the German parliament, the Bundestag, for deliberation. The outlook seems extremely promising under the three party "traffic light" coalition. The bill is likely to be passed in early 2023, and the Act should come into force three months later.
Private and public employers will have to prepare themselves as soon they will come under the purview of extensive whistleblower protection regulations. We will therefore now discuss the regulations that are of most practical relevance.
Who and what would be protected?
All natural persons who have obtained information about criminal violations of EU law and/or the German law in connection with or even prior to their...
Pakistan on April 22, Thursday urged the United Nations to call upon India to restore full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), warning that New Delhi’s “illegal” decision to hold the ...