Beware of the bad faith whistleblower in the public interest

The end of June saw the legal landscape of “whistleblowing” in employment law change dramatically.

With news of alleged shortcomings and cover up in our public services (or outsourced private companies delivering our public services) becoming a near daily occurrence this area of statutory protection for workers has greatly increased significance.

If a worker successfully claims to have been dismissed, or subjected to a detriment, by an employer for blowing the whistle they are entitled to receive uncapped compensation and there is no qualifying period of employment to be entitled to the protection.    Following the recent change in the law, providing that the disclosure is made “in the reasonable belief of the worker making [it], [and it] is made in the public interest” the worker will qualify for the protection.

This brings to the fore the interesting concept of a worker, who is acting in bad faith and has an ulterior motive for making the disclosure (such as a personal vendetta) making a successful claim.  Where the Employment Tribunal believes the disclosure is made in bad faith it can reduce the compensation level by 25% but awards of compensation in this area tend to be considerable.  As to what constitutes “in the public interest” let us hope that your business or organisation does not become a test case.