{"id":2343,"date":"2019-04-10T18:04:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/?p=2343"},"modified":"2019-04-10T18:05:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:05:00","slug":"new-statutory-law-whistleblower-protection-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/new-statutory-law-whistleblower-protection-act\/","title":{"rendered":"New Statutory Law:  Whistleblower Protection Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chris-davis-9963-unsplash_50_50-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chris-davis-9963-unsplash_50_50-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chris-davis-9963-unsplash_50_50-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chris-davis-9963-unsplash_50_50-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chris-davis-9963-unsplash_50_50.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I<\/strong><strong>NTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  On 30 January 2019 the National Council adopted a brand-new Act No. 54\/2019 Coll. on Protection of Whistleblowers of Anti-social Activity and on Amendments and Supplements to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the \u201c<strong>Whistleblower Protection Act<\/strong>\u201d or as the \u201c<strong>new law<\/strong>\u201d), with the <strong>effective date on 1<sup>st<\/sup> March 2019<\/strong>. The new law repeals the previous Act No. 307\/2014 Coll. on Certain Measures Related to Reporting on Anti-Social Activity and on Amendments and Supplements to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the \u201c<strong>prior act<\/strong>\u201d). However, previous basis set up by prior act remain in play, but with many changes that respond to shortcomings identified by the application practice. From <strong>1<sup>st<\/sup> March 2019<\/strong> the new law <strong>imposes several new duties on selected legal and natural persons in the position of employers. Failure to comply with these obligations is sanctioned by considerable amounts of money by the supervisory authority. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  The following paragraphs briefly refers to the highlights of a newly adopted law. <strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WHISTLEBLOWER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A&nbsp;<strong>whistleblower is a&nbsp;natural person \u2013\nemployee, <\/strong>who in good faith alleges wrongdoing to a body competent to receive\nsuch report, to the Whistleblower Protection Authority or to an employer.\nAccording to the new law also a <strong>person\nclosely related to the whistleblower <\/strong>is considered as a&nbsp;whistleblower,\nif that person is in an employment relationship:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>with the same\nemployer as the whistleblower, &nbsp;<\/li><li>with the employer\nwho is a&nbsp;dependant person in relation to the whistleblower\u00b4s employer; or<\/li><li>with the employer\nwho is set up by the whistleblower\u00b4s employer.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SERIOUS WRONGDOING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  A serious wrongdoing, which the whistleblower is entitled to disclose to the employer under the new law includes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>criminal offences of\ndamaging financial interests of the European Union pursuant to Articles 261 to 263 of the Criminal Code,<\/li><li>criminal offences of\ndeceitful practices in public procurement and public auction pursuant to Articles 266 to 268 of the Criminal\nCode,<\/li><li>criminal offences committed\nby public officials pursuant to\nArticles 326 to 327a of the Criminal Code,<\/li><li>criminal offences of\ncorruption pursuant to Articles 328 to 336b of the Criminal Code,<\/li><li>criminal offence with\nupper sentencing rate of at least 3 years,<\/li><li>administrative\noffence punishable by a fine with a maximum amount determined by calculation,\nor<\/li><li>administrative\noffence punishable by a fine with a maximum amount of at least EUR 30,000.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nnew law protects the whistle-blower in case he <strong>reports the facts he found out in connection to a&nbsp;performance\nof its employment, occupation, position or function or in relation to a public\ninterest activity and connected to wrongdoing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>OBLIGATIONS OF EMPLOYER <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>The Whistleblower Protection Act will\nsignificantly affect employers who employ at least 50 employees and employers\nwho are the public authorities and employ at least 5 employees.<\/strong> For the\npurposes of the new law on protection of whistleblowers, the public authority\nis understood as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>state authority,\nmunicipality, self-governing region,<\/li><li>legal person\nestablished by law and legal person established by state, by municipality or by\nself-governing region,<\/li><li>legal person\nestablished by the abovementioned persons and <\/li><li>legal person to\nwhose law authorises a&nbsp;jurisdiction over rights and obligations in the\nfield of public administration.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  <strong>Employer who employs at least 50 employees and employer who is a public authority and employs at least 5 employees has the following duties:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>to designate a responsible officer,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>to issue or update an internal regulation on details\nof investigation of disclosures,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>to investigate every report on wrongdoing and<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>to keep a record of complaints.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>DESIGNATION OF A&nbsp;RESPONSIBLE OFFICER<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nemployer has a duty to designate a&nbsp;person or an organisational unit which\nwill carry out the obligations of the employer for the purpose of protection of\nwhistleblowers of serious wrongdoing <\/strong>(hereinafter referred to as the \u201e<strong>responsible\nofficer<\/strong> \u201c). A responsible officer may or may not be an employee of the\nemployer. Therefore, responsible officer is allowed to perform its duties also on\na&nbsp;contractual basis. <strong>A responsible\nofficer shall be a qualified professional in order to maintain its tasks\naccording to the new law. Moreover, for a municipalities and self-governing\nregions duties of a responsible officer are designated to a principal\ncontroller under the new law. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  A responsible officer performs its tasks independently, responsibly and is bound only by instructions of the statutory body of the employer or of the statutory body of the parent company. Duties of a responsible officer may be performed by the Board of Directors or its member as well. Then, binding instructions for a responsible officer do not apply.\u00a0 The employer shall not retaliate a responsible officer for performance of its tasks and duties. On the other hand, the employer is obliged to provide him with the necessary cooperation in order to perform its tasks and duties. That means in particular to provide him with the sufficient resources and is obliged to give him access to the personal data and documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PUBLICATION\nOF AN INTERNAL REGULATION <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>For the purpose of protection of whistleblowers,\nthe employer has a duty to publish an internal regulation in which he specifies\nthe details about:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>disclosures,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>investigation of the reports and the scope of the authority\nof a&nbsp;responsible officer,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>confidentiality of the whistleblower\u00b4s identity,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>record-keeping of the complaints,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>informing the whistleblower about the results of his\ncomplaint,<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>processing the personal data contained in the disclosure.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  Designation of the responsible officer and the process of reporting shall be made public and accessible to all employees in a standard and commonly available course of action. The employer is obliged to ensure that at least one (1) approach of receiving of submissions is available on an ongoing basis. The following duty is to make information about the internal system of investigation of the complaints available in a concise, comprehensible, clearly worded and easily accessible form. The new law also obliges the employers to facilitate reporting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; EXAMINATION\nOF THE DISCLOSURES<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>The employer has to accept and examine\nevery complaint on wrongdoing <\/strong>within 90 days from its receival. This period\nmay be extended by a next thirty (30) days. The whistleblower shall be notified\nabout the extension by the employer together with the reasoning behind the\ndecision.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nreferral of the issue according to the Criminal Code (criminal complaint), the\nCode of Administration Offences (offense notice) or other statutory law is also\nconsidered as an examination of the report. During the examination, the\nemployer has a duty to maintain confidentiality of the whistleblower\u00b4s identity.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nemployer has a duty to inform the whistleblower about the outcome of examination\nand about the measures, if taken, within 10 days after the investigation of the\ncomplaint. If the investigation of the report was referred according to the\nCriminal Code, the Code of Administration Offences or a statutory law, a\nresponsible officer has a duty to request the result of the investigation and\nto inform the whistleblower about this result within 10 days after receiving\nsuch information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>The new law does not state how to examine the\ncomplaints and the employer is obliged to provide in its internal regulation the\ndetails how the investigation of report will take place, which persons will be\ninvolved in investigation and which authorisations will be given to a\nresponsible officer. <\/strong>The approach to the examination may vary. It depends\non the employer itself and on its specifics as a number of employees, corporate\nstructure, number of organisational units etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; RECORD-KEEPING<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nemployer is obliged to keep the record about the complaints for at least 3\nyears from the date of disclosure. The record is kept in the following scope: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>date of receipt of\nthe complaint,<\/li><li>name, surname and address\nof the whistleblower,<\/li><li>subject of the disclosure,<\/li><li>outcome of the examination\nand<\/li><li>date of the end of the\nexamination.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  The employer has a duty to take appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure and demonstrate compliance of the internal investigation system with the new law in regard to the latest knowledge, costs and the purpose of the internal investigation system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CONCLUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  The new law is based on the legal provisions already existing and its aim is to provide protection to the whistle-blowers. <strong>The employers are obliged to designate a\u00a0responsible officer, to set up a\u00a0system and method for investigation of reports of alleged wrongdoing in its internal regulations, to examine the disclosure of wrongdoing and to comply the registration obligations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  <strong>The Whistleblower Protection Authority may impose a\u00a0fine amounting to EUR 20.000 for breach of any of obligations under the new law.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INTRODUCTION \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On 30 January 2019 the National Council adopted a brand-new Act No. 54\/2019 Coll. on Protection of Whistleblowers of Anti-social Activity and on Amendments and Supplements to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the \u201cWhistleblower Protection Act\u201d or as the \u201cnew law\u201d), with the effective date on 1st March 2019. The new law [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[197,215,217,196],"tags":[232,235,231,237,236],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2345,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions\/2345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.prosman-pavlovic.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}