Tagged: EU Whistleblower Directive

Episode 321 — Review of the EU Whistleblowing Directive wih Alex Cotoia and Daniela Melendez

Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and Council dated 23 October 2019 on the “protection of persons who report breaches of Union law” (the “Directive”) is currently being implemented by EU Member States. The directive has broad applicability to organizations operating in the EU internal market and applies to both public and private sector organizations alike. Whistleblowers are guaranteed legal protection to the extent: (1)...

Implementation of EU Directive on Whistleblowing 2019/1931 (Part I of II)

By: Daniela Melendez, Associate at The Volkov Law Group and Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Compliance Manager at The Volkov Law Group Since its enactment in 2019, the European Union (“EU”) Directive on Whistleblowing 2019/1931 (“EU Directive”) has required all 27 EU Member States to incorporate certain requirements pertaining to the protection of whistleblowers into their own bodies of national law. The EU Directive alloted 2 years...

EU Whistleblower Directive: A Primer (Part IV of IV) – Protections, Prohibitions and Penalties

The Directive’s robust prohibitions against retaliation for covered persons—including both attempts and threats— is meticulously outlined in Article 19. Among other things, Article 19 broadly prohibits retaliation in the following forms: Suspension, lay-off, dismissal or equivalent measures Demotion or withholding of promotion Transfer of duties, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages or change in working hours Withholding of training Negative performance...

EU Whistleblower Directive: A Primer (Part III of IV) – Data Privacy and Recordkeeping

Hope everyone had wonderful Fourth of July holiday. Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Manager, at the Volkov Law Group rejoins us for Parts III and IV of his series on the EU Whistleblower Directive. If you want to reach Alex, his email is [email protected]. Article 17 of the Directive explicitly incorporates the provisions of Regulation 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing...

EU Whistleblower Directive: A Primer (Part II of IV) – Internal and External Reporting

Alex Cotoia rejoins us for part II of his IV-part series on the EU Whistleblower Directive. Alex can be reached at [email protected]. Article 7 of the Directive instructs member states to encourage reporting through internal organizational channels first, where the risk of retaliation is remote, and the reported breach can be effectively addressed on an internal basis.[1] Private sector organizations with 50 or more workers...

EU Whistleblower Directive: A Primer (Part I of IV) – An Overview

Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Compliance Manager at the Volkov Law Group, joins us for an informative four-part series on the EU Whistleblower Directive. Alex can be reached at [email protected]. Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and Council dated 23 October 2019 on the “protection of persons who report breaches of Union law” (the “Directive”)[1] is set to enter into legal force on 17 December 2021—the deadline...

The EU Speaking Up Regime – Plenty of Process and Protection but no Bounties

Andre Bywater and Jonathan Armstrong join us for a guest posting on the EU Speaking Up regime. André and Jonathan are lawyers with Cordery in London, United Kingdom, where they focus on compliance issues. André Bywater can be reached at [email protected] and Jonathan Armstrong can be reached at [email protected]. In 2019 the EU introduced new rules to enable whistleblowers to report about EU law irregularities...

Episode 161 — The European Union Whistleblower Directive

Global companies face a number of challenges and a myriad of regulatory obligations. In December 2019, the EU adopted a directive  to promote and protect persons who report violations of law.  Companies will be required to implement compliance reporting channels and provide protection for certain whistleblowers from retaliation.  To the extent companies already maintain internal reporting systems may have to modify their programs to meet...

The EU Whistleblowing Protection Directive: Implementing Practical Solutions to Comply (Part II of II)

The European Union Whistleblower Protection Directive imposes a broad set of requirements – to Member States and EU companies.  At the heart of the EU’s concern is to ensure that no employee (or business partner) should risk their job as a result of exposing corporate wrongdoing. Three-Tier Reporting System The EU Directive establishes a three-tiered reporting system.  Tier-1 applies to corporate internal reporting systems; Tier-2...

Leveraging the EU Whistleblower Directive to Improve Employee Reporting (Part I of II)

Global companies face a number of challenges and a myriad of regulatory obligations. In December 2019, the EU adopted a directive  to promote and protect persons who report violations of law.  The EU Whistleblower Directive was adopted in response to a series of scandals that were reported by whistleblowers, including the Panama Papers and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.  An EU-sponsored study in 2017 reported that...