The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), incorporated into law by the Employment Rights Act 1996, has been recognised by the European Commission as having given comprehensive protection for whistleblowers in the employment arena since it came into force. It gives protection to employees and workers (including partners, freelancers and trainees, as well as former employees and workers) against detriment and dismissal for such individuals who identify and expose wrongdoing in the workplace and are penalised as a result. It is a ‘day one right’, not requiring a qualifying period of employment and damages are, potentially, uncapped with no upper limit.
To date, the employment tribunals have made some large awards, reaching into millions of pounds where the individual has sustained career losses, by showing that their whistleblowing action has rendered them ‘unemployable’. However, it is still not mandatory in the UK (except in limited sectors and public companies) to have a whistleblowing policy. A recent survey carried out by Protect (the UK whistleblowing charity) suggested that only 12% of such cases are successful and Protect argues that ‘urgent reform is needed to reflect the modern workplace and keep pace with international best practice’.
Internationally, other jurisdictions are taking steps to improve and extend whistleblower protection. Since 2010, the US Dodd-Frank Act in the US has meant that whistleblowers can be rewarded and it has...
The DMK president blamed the AIADMK leader for trying to scuttle Ungaludan Stalin initiative when it was introduced, by filing a petition in the court against it DMK president and Chief Minister M....