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NEW PROTECTION ⟩ Is the workplace breaking the law? Can this be reported without consequences for thecareer?

НОВАЯ ЗАЩИТА ⟩ На рабочем месте нарушается закон? Об этом можно сообщить без последствий для карьеры

Thanks to the new law employees can not fear to report abuse at the workplace and have more rights, but the full package of protection only under defined

conditions. A violation may be related, for example, with compliance with safety standards at the

workplace. Photo illustrative. A violation may be related, for example, to the observance of safety standards at the work place. Photo

illustrative. Photo: Vesa Moilanen via www.imago-images.de

28 January 2025, 07:00

With the new law employees can not fear to report violations at the workplace and have more rights, but the full

full package of protection only under defined conditions.

Let’s say that Alexander works at a large ship repair company.

Alexander realizes that this is a clear violation and threat to the environment. He tells the shift supervisor, and he may even agree that such offenses are unacceptable. Alexander thinks that this will not happen again, but after a while he is witnessing the same offenses.

He knows that if he discloses the principal to the higher management of the enterprise, he will put trouble on his head. More trouble will occur if he will goTo the supervisory agency – to the Inspectorate for the environment. “Then the courts will take more

torture,” Alexander thinks. Here the story would have been ended.

But in May 2024 year after long delays in Estonia the European directive on the protection of individuals reporting violations of EU law was finally implemented. With a delay of two years Estonia’s lawmakers have developed a set of laws that should protect a person who finds a violation of EU laws in his workplace.

So what is the new law and in which cases will it protect the common person?

Ignore information about a violation is now dangerous

From September 1 September 2024 year all businesses with at least 250 employees were required to establish an internal alert channel, that the employee can use. From January 1 January 2025 year this obligation extended to businesses with 50 to 249 employees.

The internal notification channel shall provide confidential receipt of information in written, verbal form or by any means. This may be, for example, a e-mail address to which only the authorized person will have access. And this by law the reports don’t need to be received anonymously.

When receiving a report of abuse through an internal channel, the employer is obligated to confirm receipt of the report within seven days. He shall take appropriate measures to identify, correct and prevent the violation or transmit the report to a competent authority (e.g.., state supervisory agency or department of police andborder guards).

The informant or informant who reported the offense, the employer shall provide feedback about the measures taken as soon as possible, but not later

than three months after receipt of the report. The employee should also be notified of the final results of the

case review. Employers were not required to report to employees in such cases.

Photo illustrative.

Sora Shimazaki / pexels

Pressuring an informant or threatening them is risky

The informant has the right to confidentiality, and it is forbidden to use direct or indirect or indirect measures of pressure or threaten them.

More more than the whistleblower is not responsible if the information disclosed by him leads to legal consequences for the employer, if the informant had reasonable reasons to believe that disclosure of information is necessary. The only exceptions are in cases where such disclosure is a criminal offense. Under the same circumstances the disclosure of commercial secrets is deemed legal. That is, if the informant does not violate the criminal (or penal) code, and the disclosure of information is necessary, in order to disclose a violation of EU law, the informant may go to disclose a commercial secret.

The Law also establishes the amount of fines in the case if the snitch attempts to interfere with the reporting of the offense, to press or threaten his confidentiality. Such actions.may be punished by a fine of up to 300 fine units (in 2025 year that is 2400 euros). If the same actions are committed by a legal person, the size of the fine may increase to 100 000 euros. The same same amounts of fines applies to a reporter who reported a false report of a offense.

If the whistleblower is attempted to be prevented from reporting a violation, is pressured or threatened by the whistleblower, the police should be contacted.

Which cases is the worker protected?

Unfortunately, the legislative commission responsible for this legislative bill withdrew from the first idea to regulate reporting of all offenses. The final version of the legislative bill in the end provides the whistleblower with only the minimal protection required by the EU directive. So,

in the framework of the Law the employee is completely protected only when reporting a violation of EU laws in specific areas.

A report of a violation may affect the Laws EU in the following areas:

    • public procurement,
    • financial services, products and markets, fighting against money laundering and financing terrorism,
    • safety of products and compliance with requirements,
    • safety of vehicles,
    • safety of the environment,
    • radiation and nuclear safety,
    • safety of food products and feed,
    • health and well-being of

      animals,

    • public health,
    • protection of consumers,
    • confidentiality of private life, protection of personal data, as well as security of networks and information systems,
    • offenses damaging the financial interests of the EU, and
    • tax offenses related to the domestic market.

    Majority of theIt is difficult for an ordinary person to distinguish between violations of EU law and violations of Estonian law. Luckily, this does not mean that individuals who reported other violations could be discriminated against in the workplace, because it is excluded by the European Convention on human rights and other applicable laws. But if the reporting of a violation does not refer to EU law, the employer is not obliged to investigate the report or to provide feedback to the reporter.

    “Indeed, when the adoption of the so called Law of the Law On Snitching was considered the minimum requirements established by the EU directive, ” said juror advocate Maria Pild. – – This does not mean that companies cannot consider all reports of abuse and voluntarily offer additional measures of protection. Although we understand that most companies are not in a hurry to do>this. So the law is undoubtedly beneficial,

    but its coverage is not comprehensive. On the other hand, in those cases where

    the law is applied, it provides a range of guarantees and protective measures that didn’t exist before.”

    Juror advocate Maria Pild. 

    Triniti

    It is worth noting that not only employees, but also board members, shareholders, participants, practitioners, trainees, volunteers can expect to be protected when reporting abuse. Even the person who went to the interview and was in the recruitment process was informed about the possibleoffense.

    For No No Alerting Channel Will Be Penalized

    Employers with less than 50 employees are not required to create a separate internal alerting channel , but this does not mean that reporting of violations in this case is not possible.

    “It is important to note that the absence of a channel within the institution is not a barrier to reporting the offense. In the absence of an internal channel the notifier always has the opportunity to refer to an external channel. Depending on the scope of the activity this could be a government agency, for example, the Financial Inspectorate, Tax and Customs Department and others, ” – a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice and Digital Technology Britten Torstenberg commented. All state agencies have a appropriate alerting channel and are obligated to respond to reports in compliance with the established law requirements.

    So even if the enterprise is obligated by law to create an internal notification channel , but for some reason, it didn’t, the employee can always contact the government agency directly.

    The law, by the way, does not provide no punishment, no fines for businesses that disregard the law’s requirement to have an notification channel. Lawmakers suggest that there is no need for punishment because the creation of a notification channel is in every enterprise’s interest,

    because this is the way to react quickly to a

    potential offense and avoid more serious consequences.

    The Ministry of Justice and Digital Technology explained: “In this way, the institution can avoid reputation damage. Based on this consideration, many many institutions have suffered the possible consequences.organizations have already voluntarily used this opportunity (created the alert channel – editorial).”

    Superministry.

    Mihkel Maripuu

    So far that there are few reports

    >

    All legally obligated government and subordinate to their organizations and local governments have opened an internal channel of alerts.

    A majority of ministries questioned by Rus.Postimees confirmed that despite the availability of the alert channel, in four months they had not received one report of a violation of EU laws. The Ministry of Education has said that information about whether anyone has reported a violation is confidential and not to be disclosed. Apparently, someone has already taken advantage of the new opportunities.

    Interestingly, despite that the Estonian departments and inspections are subordinate to ministries organizations, The ministries

    have no data about violations reported through the internal channels of the reporting subordinate agency. So, for example, the Ministry of Climate does not know whether the Inspectorate for the Environment has received the report of the violation. The Ministry of Justice and Digital Technology, responsible for the law, does not keep statistics as well. Apparently, these moments are not provided by the law, either.

    “More open and favorable working environment”

    Some large private companies in Estonia have implemented a notification channel long before the legislation was in place.

    The head of internal communication of the company.Bolt Matis Bogens commented to Rus.Postimees, that their firm has had an official channel for reporting potential incidents since 2022 .

    “At Bolt we are serious and proactive about creating a safe and open working environment. It is important for us not only to have this channel, but to actively promote and support usage. We speak regularly about this at general company meetings and through other internal channels, ” Bogens said.

    As Bogens noted, all 4,000 Bolt employees, regardless of their location or position, are aware of the existence of the channel and have access to it. “Every employee of the company should feel confident that reporting of violations is confidential and will not lead to

    negative consequences. For this we guarantee complete anonymity and offer numerous

    ways to notify the offense, including telephone and internet, ” he continued.

    According to Bogens, the company is confident that the channel for reporting abuse has helped create a more open and favorable working environment at Bolt.

    Worker Bolt.

    Mihkel Maripuu

    In Wise this practice also appeared long before the law.

    “For few years we have had a hotline and web portal through which employees can report violations.

    saidWiselawyerAnastasiaLitvinenko.

    News source

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