Legislation for Whistleblowing
While such reports can be made directly to the institution where the incident occurred, whistleblowers can also address the Agency, in which case they are considered external whistleblowers.
A whistleblower is any person who is or has been:
- Volunteer;
- Job applicant;
- Intern;
- Collaborator;
- Employee, or
- In any contractual relationship with an institution or public or private enterprise.
The agency is responsible for reviewing and processing whistleblowing cases in the public sector through administrative investigation when:
they are related to the whistleblower’s manager
there is reasonable suspicion that harmful actions may be taken against the whistleblower or evidence may be hidden or destroyed if whistleblowing were to take place
have an urgent character that is associated with serious and immediate danger or irreversible damage
The Agency can submit a criminal report to the Prosecutor’s Office when there are elements of a criminal offense or ask the Court to initiate the offense procedure if public institutions (the Labour Inspectorate in the case of private institutions) commit these irregularities:
fail to designate an officer responsible for whistleblowing procedures and notify all employees in writing of their rights to initiate whistleblowing procedures;
fail to protect the whistleblower from any harmful action;
fail to take action after reporting information within the legal deadlines;
fail to inform the whistleblower about the result of the procedure in the specified period, or about the progress and actions taken in the procedure at his/her request;
fail to give the whistleblower access to case files and the right to participate in the actions taken during the whistleblowing procedure;
in cases where they prevent whistleblowing by any action or inaction aimed at preventing reporting or disclosure of public interest
