flash news: #whistleblowing
A whistleblower from Armenia submitted a report, through his former employer's designated internal channels, on irregularities committed by one of the company's high-ranking manager. When this manager found out, he sued the whistleblower for defamation and won the case in court (the whistleblower had to pay high damages and apologise).
Today, 25 September 2024, most provisions of the Whistleblower Protection Act, including those concerning internal reporting, come into force. Accordingly, entities employing, as of 1 January or 1 July of a given year, at least 50 persons, will be required, among other things, to implement an internal reporting procedure.
On 24 June 2024, the Whistleblowers’ Act was published in the Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland with most of its provisions taking effect on 25 September 2024.
Employers must now determine whether they are obligated to introduce procedures for internal notifications – we have prepared guidelines on how to check.
On Thursday, 20 June 2024, the legislative work concerning the implementation of the European Parliament and Council (EU) Directive 2019/1937 was completed. The President signed the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
The law will now be published in the Official Gazette, which will trigger the start of the vacatio legis period. Most of the provisions will enter into force three months after the date of promulgation, most probably at the end of September 2024.
On Friday, 14 June 2024, the Sejm (the lower house of Polish Parliament) passed a law on the protection of whistleblowers. Thus, a piece of legislation that does not relate to labour law will go to the President for signature. Under the whistleblowing procedure, legal entities will not have to deal with reports of bullying or discrimination. Employers will be entitled to consider such reports, but this will not be mandatory.
On Wednesday, 5 June, 2024, the Senate submitted changes to the whistleblower bill adopted by the Sejm – removing labour law from the list of areas in which wrongdoing can be reported. The bill will now return to the Sejm, which will decide whether to approve the change made by the Senate.