Legal protection for whistleblowers was introduced by the Public
Interest Disclosure Act in 1998. Since then, the legislation has
been subject to serious scrutiny and wide interpretation by the
Employment Tribunals.
An increasing number of claimants have sought to use it solely
to get around the length of service requirement and limits on
compensation in unfair dismissal claims.
Furthermore, case law has highlighted the lack of protection for
whistleblowers who, as a result of making a protected disclosure,
are victimised and harassed by their colleagues, but not their
employer.
Amendments introduced by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Act 2013 that come into force today, 25 June 2013, seek to limit
the abuses of the whistleblowing legislation by self-interested
claimants but also to protect genuine whistleblowers from abusive
colleagues.
