Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing is an important instrument for uncovering illegalities and other censurable circumstances committed by actors in both the private and public sectors.

In recent times, there have been several examples of whistleblowing uncovering corruption, environmental crime, abuse of authority, unsafe working environment, money laundering and harassment of employees, among other things. 

According to the Working Environment Act, all businesses with more than five employees are obliged to prepare whistleblowing routines for internal notification.

The routines must make it possible for employees, in a safe way, to notify censurable conditions in the business, as well as ensure that the employer follows up on the notification in a responsible manner.

How do we handle whistleblowing cases?

The Working Environment Act provides little guidance on how to carry out whistleblowing investigations. With a background in handling close to a thousand whistleblowing cases, we have extensive experience in receiving and investigating notifications about censurable conditions on behalf of businesses.

Among other things, we handle the receipt of notifications for a number of public bodies and private enterprises. We also have considerable experience in assisting the ones notified, whistleblowers and other affected third parties in a whistleblowing case.

In cases where we investigate notifications for a business or a public body, the mandate and framework for the assignment are first clarified with the client. Furthermore, rules of proceedings are established based on the business or body's own whistleblowing routines. The investigations are then carried out in different phases as required.

We handle whistleblowing cases to a large extent in the same way as investigations. When handling whistleblowing cases, we are particularly concerned with complying with the principle of contradiction, providing affected parties with sufficient information, taking confidential information into account, and ensuring progress in the whistleblowing case so that it is carried out effectively.