Increase in whistleblower tribunal cases

The number of employees claiming to have been sacked, mistreated or bullied for whistleblowing is now over ten times higher than it was a decade ago, figures have revealed.

According to Employment Tribunal statistics, collated by charity, Public Concern at Work, the number of people using whistleblowing legislation (The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 – PIDA) increased from 157 cases in 1999 to 1,791 in 2009.

The PIDA was introduced in 1999 to protect individuals who disclose information about their employer in the public interest. Workplace Law’s Whistleblowing factsheet advises that a protected disclosure is a disclosure made by a worker which in the reasonable belief of the worker tends to show that:

• a criminal offence has been, is being or is likely to be committed;
• a person has breached, is breaching or is likely to breach a legal obligation;
• a miscarriage of justice has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur;
• the health and safety of an individual has been, is being or is likely to be endangered;
• the environment has been, is being or is likely to be endangered; or
• there is an attempt to cover up one of the above.

Campaigners have expressed concern that whistleblowers are still being sacked or treated unfairly due to their actions and that employers are not accepting workers’ rights to expose bad practice.

Catherine Wolthuizen, Director of Public Concern at Work, told the Guardian:

"Each claim is evidence of a breakdown in relations between employer and employee … our report suggests British employees are not being told that it is safe and acceptable to speak up about wrongdoing in their workplace."

The report by Public Concern at Work also raises concern about a growth in gagging clauses. It found that some whistleblowers are being gagged in compromise and severance agreements. The report says:

“While the law is clear that clauses that attempt to gag an individual from making a PIDA-protected disclosure are void, what happens in practice may be different. Entering into a potentially void contract makes little sense on any view. We hope a better knowledge of the law might deter lawyers and employers from this approach.”

Research from the charity found that most individuals would raise a concern with their employer. 87% in the 2009 survey (85% in 2007) said they would raise a concern about possible corruption, danger or serious malpractice with 5% saying they would not raise it with their employer and 8% not knowing what they would do.

In the 2009 survey, 38% said their employer has a whistleblowing policy, an increase of 9% from 2007. There was also a sectoral split with 33% of private sector employees saying that their employer has a whistleblowing policy compared with 47% from the public sector in 2009.