Organisation's whistle-blower comments results in redundancy

In a recent federal court case, a HR Director faced claims they carried out an unlawful redundancy to remove a “whistle-blower” employee who worked as the Head of Medical. A whistle-blower is an individual in an organisation, who reports on wrongdoing or misconduct occurring in their workplace. 

The former Head of Medical made a complaint about an employee who reported to them, having a negative effect on their work colleagues. They suggested the individual be dismissed or transferred to another area. Instead of acting on this request, the Head of Medical was instead pressured into increasing the colleague’s bonuses and changing their reporting line. Actions were then taken to make the Head of Medical’s position redundant.

There are pros and cons that come with whistleblowing, and a major concern is having your company’s reputation tainted by an employee feeling the need to go to higher, governmental or police authorities to rectify misconduct. It can also have financial impacts in terms of costly court cases, fines imposed by regulators or compensation payouts. However, this negative stigma associated with having a whistle-blower may not necessarily be a bad thing. 

There are benefits in having individuals come forward about any misconduct or inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. These include bringing awareness to practice owners that an employee may not be well suited to the company’s culture, or bringing issues to your attention that you would otherwise be unaware of. This can be achieved through workplace policies, such as a Grievance Resolution Policy, which provides staff with clear instructions on how and who they can raise concerns with. It also holds the practice accountable in dealing with the grievance in a particular way, demonstrating to staff that your practice takes them seriously. 

Having a well written Code of Conduct will also assist by setting the minimum expectations of staff in how they should act. It’s important to regularly refresh and retrain staff of your internal policies so they are aware that these expectations and/or procedures are valued by the practice.