High Court explores boundaries between professional duty and workplace rules
28 Feb 2025
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The General Division of Singapore's High Court recently dealt with a termination case that questioned when employees could undertake their own workplace investigations. The decision examined the limits of professional obligations when they appear to conflict with workplace protocols.
A worker who discovered what he perceived as unfair treatment in his workplace decided to gather evidence himself. He accessed confidential records without authorisation, arguing this was necessary to document his concerns about workplace conduct and safety issues.
The case explored whether employees could conduct independent investigations into colleagues' conduct, what constituted appropriate whistleblowing, and how organisations should handle situations where professional duties appeared to conflict with workplace policies.
At Singapore Health Services Private Limited (SingHealth), COVID-19 pandemic protocols in 2020 restricted doctors' movements between hospitals.
Two neurosurgeons faced different circumstances: one remained at Singapore General Hospital handling complex cases, while the worker was assigned to Sengkang General Hospital performing mainly routine procedures.
The worker began expressing concerns about his colleague's activities to Associate Professor David Low Chyi Yeu, then Head of Department of Neurosurgery at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and...
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