Protected Disclosure

In Brief

• New legislation makes it easier for workers to raise concerns without fear of recrimination
  
• The Act covers serious wrongdoing in or by any organisation – large or small, public or private and the voluntary sector
  
• Private sector organisations need to be aware of their responsibilities including how to handle disclosures made to them
  

New whistleblowing legislation came into force from July 2022 in the form of the Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022.
This new legislation makes it easier for workers to raise concerns about ethics, risks, financial impropriety and safety in the workplace – without fear of recrimination. The Act covers serious wrongdoing in or by any organisation – large or small, public or private and the voluntary sector.
A major change is that a worker may make a disclosure to an appropriate authority, a trusted external party, at any time without going through their employer first.
In addition to this, the Act:

• Extends the definition of serious wrongdoing to cover private sector use of public funds and authority and to cover behaviour that is a serious risk to the health and safety of any individual.
  
• Allows people to report serious wrongdoing directly to an appropriate authority at any time, while clarifying the ability of the appropriate authority to decline or refer the disclosure.
  
• Strengthens protections for disclosers by specifying what a receiver of a disclosure should do.
  
• Clarifies internal procedure requirements for public sector organisations and requiring them to state how they will provide support to disclosers.
  
• Clarifies the potential forms of adverse conduct disclosers may face.
  
  
  

What does this mean for me?

Public sector organisations must have procedures for whistleblowing and these need to be updated for the new Act.
And, while private sector organisations are not required by the Act to establish internal procedures for protected disclosures, it is highly recommended they do so. Private sector organisations need to be aware of their responsibilities under the Act including how to handle disclosures made to them.
For more information see Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022 on the Public Service Commission website.
The Ombudsman has a key role in providing information and guidance on the Act as well as supporting disclosers.

How it works within the chnnl app

• During the onboarding of the organisation key contacts are set up as the notified people for Protected Disclosures. In most instances this is the Board Chair, CEO, or specialised team depending on your organisations size and policy.
  
• End user (App user) chooses to share an incident as a Protected Disclosure through the Speak Up feature (if a journal is deemed a yellow flag the Speak up feature will be suggested)
  
• You will see a list of names of which you can choose to be notified.
  
• The notifier can send you a push notification requesting next steps or more information. You can choose to respond or to ignore this, but we recommend engagement for best outcomes.
  
• You will be prompted to also use the normal reporting process at your organisation and a link to your orgs process is available when entering your disclosure, but again you can choose.
  
• At any point in the speak up process you can request support to talk to a real person about any concerns you have through the EAP service at your organisation.
  
• Once you put through a Protected Disclosure, you cannot redact it. You can add further context and detail, but the initial report cannot be undone.