11 March 2024
A whistleblower is a person (an employee or an external individual) who exposes dishonest or illegal practices within an organization. For this reason, they may be exposed to bullying, various forms of harassment, and persecution. The term "whistleblower" has Anglo-Saxon roots. In the USA, there is even an institution that promotes reporting violations and works to protect whistleblowers – the National Whistleblower Center. In Poland, until now, a whistleblower has been rather associated with an informer, as if it did not matter that they could be reporting serious violations of workplace standards within a given organization, embezzlement, or cases of financial corruption.
This dilemma has been resolved for us by Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which obliges businesses in the EU to protect whistleblowers. Soon, the directive will be implemented into Polish law with the entry into force of the Act on the Protection of Persons Reporting Violations of Law.
