Protected Leap of Faith?
First we had Maurice McCabe. Now we have the Protected Disclosure by Robert Pitt, CEO of Independent News & Media (INM) who has made a Protected Disclosure under whistleblower legislation about the circumstances surrounding a proposed bid by the company for Newstalk, the radio station owned by INM’s largest shareholder, Denis O’Brien. In this Article I explain the provisions of the Protected Disclosure Act 2014, opining that it can be used for good or bad. I also advise separately both employees and employers as to how they should act in the event that a situation arises where a Protected Disclosure is necessary.
In this Article I cover issues such as:
• What is a Protected Disclosure and the strict manner in which it must be activated by a worker;
• The fact that a worker need only have a “reasonable belief” that a wrongdoing has occurred within his place of work;
• Where the legislation differs from the Northern Ireland Act;
• That the protections afforded under the Act are not restricted to employees;
• That an employee can attain compensation of up to 5 years` Loss of Earnings if he is unfairly dismissed as a consequence of making a Protected Disclosure;
• That an employee can issue an Injunction Application to the Circuit Court to have himself restored to the workplace pending the substantive Hearing of his Claim before the Workplace Relations Commission;
• That family members, who may suffer repercussions as a result of a spouse, sibling, parent or child having made a Protected Disclosure, are entitled to issue Civil Claims for Compensation against the employer;
• How the provisions of the Act could be abused by employees;
• What a worker should do, in the event that he wishes to make a Protected Disclosure;
• What precautions an employer should now have in place to ensure compliance with the Act;
• What an employer should do where a worker makes a Protected Disclosure;
• What an employer should do where an employee issues an Application before the Circuit Court claiming that he was unfairly dismissed as a consequence of making a Protected Disclosure.
To read the Article you can access it on the Articles section of our website.
Brian Morgan
Morgan McManus Solicitors
Web: brilliantreddev.co.uk/morganmcmanus
Email: bmorgan@morganmcmanus.ie
Ph. No.: 00353 47 51011