Employers with 50-plus employees are likely to have to amend their whistleblowers' policy
The Dutch Senate has passed (24 January 2023) the Whistleblowers Protection Act (Wet bescherming klokkenluiders), which replaces the Whistleblowers Authority Act (Wet Huis voor klokkenluiders). For many employers, this means that whistleblowing policy must be amended.
Better protection
Employers with at least 50 employees have been required since 1 July 2016 to have an internal procedure, a whistleblowers' scheme, for reporting suspected wrongdoings within the organisation. Reporters are protected from being harmed as a result of these reports. The Whistleblower Protection Act aims to better protect reporters and implements the EU Whistleblower Directive of 23 October 2019 (2019/1937).
Improvements implemented
The legislation expands the scope of protected persons. Besides employees, the law also protects persons performing work for remuneration in a relationship of subordination, such as self-employed workers, interns and volunteers. Importantly, this group must also be counted for the 50-employee threshold for the compulsory internal procedure. Moreover, the protection also applies to those who assist a reporter and third parties associated with the employer in a work-related context.
It extends the definition "wrongdoing" (misstand). This includes a (risk of) violation of Union law or an act or omission in which the public interest is at stake in (a risk of) violation of a...
Fake campaign against Armenia originating in Georgia Reports by several Georgian media outlets have sparked a strong reaction in Armenia. The reports claimed that “Armenia is returning the border v...