Irish Whistleblower Law: EQS Group Advocates for More Comprehensive Protection for Whistleblowers
26 Luglio 2022 - 2:57PM
Business Wire
- National whistleblower law entered into force on 21st July
2022
- New regulations broaden existing whistleblower regulations to
cover breaches of EU law
- All private sector organisations with 50 or more employees are
obliged to set up a whistleblowing system
- Breaching whistleblower confidentiality is now an offence in
many cases, but Ireland’s new law does not require employers to
provide an anonymous reporting option
The uncertainty for whistleblowers and institutions in Ireland
has come to an end: the Government has now presented a new national
whistleblower protection law, The Protected Disclosures (Amendment)
Bill 2022, that transposes the EU Whistleblowing Directive.
Most importantly, this new law requires private companies with
50 or more employees to establish a whistleblowing system. It also
requires employers to keep the whistleblower’s identity
confidential and creates a new offence for breach of this
confidentiality.
EQS Group, market leader for whistleblower systems in Europe,
welcomes this step - but advocates urgent revisions which would
strengthen the law beyond the requirements of EU Directive
2019/1937 and provide full protections for whistleblowers.
Ireland is the 11th member state in the European Union to
implement the EU Whistleblower Directive. There has been a delay in
getting this legislation passed, with the initial deadline being
December 2021.
“While we are pleased that Ireland has finally transposed the EU
Whistleblowing Directive, we are disappointed that the government
has failed to go further and require companies to provide an option
for whistleblowers to report anonymously. While the new Bill
guarantees confidentiality for whistleblowers, time and again it
has been shown that many whistleblowers prefer to report completely
anonymously - our Whistleblowing Report 2021 found that half of all
whistleblowers submitted their reports anonymously if the company
offered this option. We therefore recommend urgent improvements to
the law”, says Achim Weick, founder and CEO of EQS Group.
Apart from exceptional circumstances, companies will now need to
receive consent from whistleblowers before disclosing their
identity. If companies breach this confidentiality duty,
whistleblowers will have much freer rein to bring legal proceedings
against them and will now not be required to prove loss.
Companies in the private sector must set up reporting
channels - or risk penalties
Irish whistleblowers have previously been afforded protection
under the Protected Disclosure Act 2014. They could make a report
if they were classified as a worker - such as employee, trainee or
contractor - who disclosed information in a particular way.
Concerns could be reported to an employer or to an external
person.
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022 substantially
extends the scope of protection and provides greater clarity for
both whistleblowers and employers. All private sector organisations
with 50 or more employees must establish formal channels and
procedures for their employees to make protected disclosures. A
derogation for the above requirement will be put in place until 17
December 2023 for organisations with between 50 and 249 employees.
The scope of the law is extended to volunteers, unpaid trainees,
board members, shareholders and job applicants. The process of
establishing formal reporting channels in companies will be
monitored and enforced by the Inspectorate of the Workplace
Relations Commission.
In addition, further key details of the new legislation are as
follows:
- Protected disclosures will be expanded to include breaches of
EU law, but importantly do not include interpersonal grievances or
conflicts.
- Acknowledgement of the receipt of the protected disclosure must
be given within 7 days
- Diligent follow-up must be conducted regarding the information
disclosed
- Feedback on the actions taken must be provided to the
whistleblower within 3 months and they may request ongoing feedback
in writing. This feedback must be given at intervals of three
months until the investigation is finalised.
- New offenses will be created for employers who fail to
establish internal whistleblowing channels
- Penalising reporting persons, hindering a person from making a
report or taking vexatious proceedings against whistleblowers will
also be considered offences
- Definitions of penalisation are now expanded to include a
negative performance assessment; failure to convert a temporary
employment contract to a permanent one and a medical referral.
- Workers now have to pass a harder test for their public
disclosures to be classified as protected disclosures, including
having previously made the same report to the employer, prescribed
person or relevant minister and seen no follow up.
- A new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner will be
established to support the new measures
- The Commissioner will take on responsibility for transmitting
all protected disclosures sent to government ministers to the most
appropriate authority
It is also noteworthy that the new Bill reverses the burden of
proof for penalisation, meaning the employer will have to prove
that any alleged penalisation was not a direct result of the
employee making a complaint.
To note, all public sector organisations, regardless of size
were already required to have formal protected disclosure
procedures in place under the 2014 act.
“Whistleblowing Report 2021”: Great need to catch up in
Europe
The “Whistleblowing Report 2021”, an international study
conducted by the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden in
cooperation with EQS Group, shows that there is still a lot of
catching up to do in Europe. In 2020, only one in 10 companies
fully complied with the requirements of the EU Whistleblower
Directive and almost half of the companies surveyed in Germany,
France, the UK and Switzerland were not prepared at all. The
importance of a functioning reporting system that effectively helps
to identify wrongdoing and risks is shown by the fact that around
one in three companies surveyed had been affected by illegal or
unethical behaviour at least once and exposed to immense
reputational risks as a result.
Digital whistleblowing systems are best practice for
preserving anonymity and reliability
Digital whistleblowing systems have established themselves as
best practice because only these fulfill all the requirements for
secure, anonymous and GDPR-compliant communication.
“This new law highlights that employers need to protect the
identities of whistleblowers, or face prosecution if they fail to
do this. Employers should keep this at the forefront of their minds
when choosing their reporting system as digital systems offer a
simple and effective solution for this, and even go a step further
in providing whistleblowers with the option to report completely
anonymously” explains Andrew Breakwell, Head of Sales, UK/IE/NL for
EQS Group who, together with his team, supports EQS Group customers
in Ireland setting up whistleblower systems. These include Cairn
Homes and Allied Irish Banks (AIB).
About EQS Group:
EQS Group (www.eqs.com) is a leading international provider of
regulatory technology (RegTech) in the fields of corporate
compliance, investor relations sustainability reporting. In working
with EQS Group, thousands of companies worldwide inspire trust by
fulfilling complex national and international disclosure
obligations, minimising risks and communicating transparently with
stakeholders.
EQS Group’s products are pooled in the cloud-based software EQS
COCKPIT. They ensure the professional control of compliance
workflows in the fields of whistleblower protection and case
management, policy management, business approvals, third party
management, insider list management, disclosure obligations and
sustainability reporting.
In addition, listed companies benefit from a global newswire,
investor targeting and contact management, IR websites, digital
reports and webcasts for efficient and secure investor
communications.
EQS Group was founded by Achim Weick in 2000 in Munich, Germany.
Today the group employs more than 600 professionals and has offices
in the world’s key financial markets.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220726005692/en/
Press contact: Ulrike Dittmar, Marketing EQS Group
ulrike.dittmar@eqs.com
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