Whistleblowing
Employees who disclose information about alleged wrong doing in the work place are protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. Under the Act, it is unlawful for an employer to subject any worker to a detriment or to dismiss them for making such disclosures.
The law in these so called 'whistleblowing' cases is highly complex. If you are thinking about bringing your concerns about a public interest matter to your employer's attention, or you feel that after raising a concern, you are being treated unfairly, we recommend that you seek legal advice as soon as possible to maximise the protection available to you.
Whistleblowing cases are complex and highly tactical. They can often be very hard fought by an employer, because of the damage losing a case can do to their reputation. Often the difficulty in whistleblowing cases is showing that it was the making of the disclosure that actually caused the detrimental treatment, or dismissal. Employers will usually try and say that the treatment was for some other reason, for example, an individual's performance or misconduct.
Our expertise
At Russell Jones & Walker, we have run many whistleblowing claims, including some of the most significant in this field. Our team is recognised as pre-eminent in handling highly sensitive senior City executive claims.
These cases, which are highly confidential, and therefore go unreported, involve technical areas of law, huge City institutions and massive financial settlements. The total value of such cases in the last year is in the region of £25 million. Furthermore, as a result of many of these cases, major City institutions have reviewed their HR and compliance procedures and implemented more rigorous best practice systems in the process.
Do you think you've got a claim?
If you think you may have a claim for whistleblowing, all you need to do is fill in our online questionnaire and respond to some straightforward questions. Our solicitors will then assess your prospects of succeeding in a claim, and contact you with their opinion. The service are free and 100% confidential.
Please see our terms and conditions.
For more information on whistleblowing, please download a copy of our free Whistleblowing factsheet.
Case study
Our client, Finance Director and a trustee of the occupational pension scheme, was dismissed after acting to block the managing director's attempt to divert a six-figure death in service benefit to the company's trading account. The highly complex and hard-fought case was described by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority as a "mini-Maxwell".
We obtained the maximum potential award for injury to feelings, together with a rare award for aggravated damages; and then succeeded in obtaining a 50% uplift. This combined award for injured feelings is believed to be the highest for a whistleblower in the UK.
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Whistleblowing