On 25 February 2023, Austria’s Whistleblower Protection Act (Act) entered into force. The Act transposes the EU Whistleblowing Directive (Directive 2019/1937/EU; Directive) into Austria’s national law.
This is the second in a series of blogposts exploring three specific legal and practical whistleblowing issues to be considered by companies operating in Austria.
1. Whistleblower protection against termination
As mandated by the Directive, the Act inter alia protects whistleblowers and persons close to them (e.g. colleagues) against retaliatory measures provided that the whistleblower complies with certain diligence requirements. This includes protection against a retaliatory termination of employment.
Whistleblowers within the scope of the Act now benefit from a particularly effective protection against termination (without the usual 14-days-contestation period, which in the past has been repeatedly criticized as problematic from an EU law perspective), a reverse burden of proof and an entitlement to be compensated not only for pecuniary loss but also for personal injury suffered.
According to Austrian law, if a termination of employment is found to be retaliatory, the termination shall be null and void. This means that a wrongfully dismissed whistleblower may file a lawsuit claiming continued employment within an objectively reasonable period of time (which pursuant to the Austrian Supreme Court depends on the individual case and may even extend beyond six months). This...
Images of the Whitegate fuel protests earlier this month were altered to make it appear gardaí were violent towards protesters. The AI-doctored images were shared widely online, including by inter...