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Whistleblowing

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The EU Whistleblower Directive has been in force since 16 December 2019, and was to be implemented in national law by 17 December 2021. On 27 July 2022, the German Federal Cabinet approved a government draft of the Whistleblower Protection Act, so that — with considerable delay — the further legislative process has been initiated.

The new Australian Government promises nearly AUD 1 billion in investments to Medicare and general practices as part of a number of policy commitments to healthcare and aged care initiatives.
On 21 May 2022, Australia elected a new federal government, the Australian Labor Party. As part of its campaign, the newly elected Federal Government committed to a number of healthcare and aged care policy initiatives with a strong focus on improving quality and access to primary care.

With increased regulatory scrutiny and the emergence of employee activism, companies have experienced an elevated risk of trade secret disclosure from current or former employees acting as putative whistleblowers. In this episode, Aaron Goodman (Partner, Los Angeles) discussed key factors companies should consider in balancing their trade secret interests against the protections afforded to whistleblowers, with a focus on recent whistleblower laws across the globe.

The settlement of employment disputes include, as standard practice, the addition of a confidentiality clause to settlement agreements. However, what happens when an employee breaches such an agreement by disclosing confidential information during legal proceedings or where the information pertains to wrongdoing by the employer? The Labor Appeal Court in South Africa recently considered this matter.

Does your company not want to default on the implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive? Then do not wait any longer to start planning your organization’s whistleblowing regime. We have prepared a multijurisdictional analysis matrix covering five key areas with respect to whistleblowing laws in the form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire covers questions about the directive’s scope and implementation requirements for internal procedures, protection of whistleblowers and data privacy issues.

An influx of high-profile whistleblowing cases have made headlines in recent years, and claims (and awards) are on the rise. At the same time, more defined and greater protections for whistleblowers are coming into play in the US, UK and European Union. It’s essential that multinational employers be aware of the whistleblower regulations proliferating across the globe and the notable differences between regimes.

Since the inception of the European Union’s Whistleblowing Directive in 2019, we have seen greater scrutiny of whistleblowing practices and a number of key jurisdictions beyond Europe upgrading their whistleblowing laws. Read on for a summary of the latest developments in whistleblowing laws across the globe.