Anti-corruption advocates universally praised the passage of new whistleblower protection rules by the European Union in 2019. Publicly, they used words like “victory” and “achievement.” Privately, some called the new rules “a miracle.”
Many experts said the new protections were too good to be true. Two years later, it appears they may be right.
The first sign of trouble is the fact that only 4 of 27 countries met the EU’s deadline to pass a new whistleblower law by last Dec. 17: Denmark, Malta, Portugal and Sweden. Laws since have been passed by Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania. This leaves 20 countries out of compliance – and corruption witnesses in these countries still without legal protection from retaliation. Most of these countries are far from finalizing their laws, due to a lack of political will, expertise and experience with whistleblower cases. Doubt and fear have stymied the legislative process.
More problematic, none of these seven new laws include any specific mechanisms to protect employees from retaliation, or to compensate them for lost wages and other damages if they are fired or demoted. The laws say nothing about how an employee can apply for and obtain whistleblower status. And the laws provide almost no guidance for courts, which will become the venue for many whistleblower retaliation and unfair dismissal cases.
To find a cautionary tale, would-be whistleblowers need to look no further than Denmark. One would expect corruption witnesses to be treated...
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