Whistleblowers to get new legal guidelines

Workplace whistleblowers are to be better protected by law, the government has proposed. But a transparency group says the move does not go far enough. The government wants a multi-level model: first those involved are to go to their employers, then the relevant authorities, such as the police. After this, the whistleblower should be allowed to go public if officials fail to act. A previous bill was sent back by parliament in 2015 for being too complex. The latest proposal aims to give clarity, as employees currently don’t know if they can denounce and to whom. Employers are also unclear about how to react, the government explained. This leads to conflicts and illegal actions like going public straightaway, a statement released on Friday said. It added that companies might also not report issues because they cannot foresee what the consequences will be. A company can then try and sort out the problems itself and to set up a service for dealing with whistleblowing.