What protection does whistleblowing give you at work?
Protection from dismissal and detriment for making a protected disclosure — and the protection is narrower and more technical than the word "whistleblowing" suggests, with several conditions that must all be met.
What must be disclosed. A qualifying disclosure is information which, in the worker's reasonable belief, is made in the public interest and tends to show one or more of:
A criminal offence.
Failure to comply with a legal obligation.
A miscarriage of justice.
Danger to health and safety.
Damage to the environment.
Deliberate concealment of any of the above.
The two conditions that catch people out:
Public interest. Following a change in the law, a disclosure must be in the public interest — which excludes purely personal employment grievances. A complaint about your own contract, without wider implication, is not protected however justified.
Information, not an allegation. The disclosure must convey facts tending to show wrongdoing, not merely assert that something is wrong. Tribunals have distinguished between the two, and a bare allegation may not qualify.
Who to disclose to. Disclosure to the employer is the most straightforward route and is protected. Disclosure to a prescribed person — a regulator listed in the relevant order for that subject — is also protected, provided the belief is reasonable and the information substantially true.
Wider disclosure, including to the media, is protected only in much narrower circumstances — requiring additional conditions, such as reasonable belief of victimisation or evidence being concealed, or that the matter is exceptionally serious, plus reasonableness overall. Going to the press first is rarely protected.
What the protection covers: dismissal for making a protected disclosure is automatically unfair, with no qualifying service required and no cap on the compensatory award; and detriment short of dismissal is unlawful.
Its limits: it does not prevent dismissal for other reasons, and establishing that the disclosure was the reason is where cases are won or lost.
Confidentiality clauses cannot prevent protected disclosures, and any attempt to do so is void.
General information, not legal advice.