Sygnalista/en

WHISTLEBLOWER (“to blow the whistle” – “to raise an alarm”) – employee who reported malpractices or their suspicion in public interest. Speaking out in such cases by w. is defined in the law as the “protected disclosure”. Protection against potential reprisals is usually granted to w. under two essential conditions: (1) making a disclosure in public interest – w. passes information concerning a public good protection, neither for the sake of his/her own gain nor in the name of personal interest; (2) making a disclosure in the good faith (bona fides) - while reporting, w. has reasonable belief that disclosed information it true, what during further investigation might be verified positively or not. Characteristic features of w. is his/her actual or former membership in organisation which disclosed information is about and holding position which does not authorize his/her to counteract malpractices by himself/herself, regardless of the fact whether his/her identity is known and whether informing is a part of his/her professional duty (vide auditor) or not. W. reports information to dedicated body which is able to investigate it, inside or outside he/his organisation, or when such body does not exist or its credibility is doubtful, discloses directly to the public opinion. Reporter cannot be considered as w. when he/she is aware of falseness of information, obtained it by breaking the law or keep engaged in illegal practices. The first time a word “whistleblowing” was used by American attorney Ralph Nader specialized in consumers cases in 1972, who understood this term as an activity of people who in belief that public interest is more important than particular interest of organisation for which they work, inform about corruption and illegal and unfair practices in the workplace. Polish equivalent of the term “whistleblower” – “sygnalista” appeared in the public debate and media discourse in Poland in first decade of XXI century, when it has been promoted by coalition of non-governmental organisations against corruption. Polish law does not contain neither legal definition nor legal guarantees of safety dedicated to employees who report their concerns. Statutory whistleblowers protection in both private and public sectors has been introduced in many countries of the world, e.g. in the USA, the United Kingdom, the Republic of South Africa and Japan. International organisations such as the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Council of Europe advocate for strengthening whistleblowers’ protection. The European Court of Human Rights in its judgments has developed legal criteria which its judges apply in order to assess whether employee who reported malpractices deserves for protection or not (→ whistleblowing scheme) [ M. Waszak ].

Literature: A. Ploszka, Ochrona demaskatorów (whistleblowers) w orzecznictwie ETPCz, „Europejski Przegląd Sądowy” 2014, nr 4 ■ W. Vandekerckhove, Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility: A Global Assessment, Burlington 2000 ■ A. Wojciechowska-Nowak, Ochrona sygnalistów Polsce. Stan obecny i rekomendacje zmian, Warszawa 2012.