Whistleblowers' protection

The third area of action relates to the responsibilities of the Ethics Officer in the field of the protection of officials who believe that action has been taken against them because they have reported misconduct or cooperated with an audit or investigation (what is called whistleblowers’ protection). This action aims to reinforce the possibility for all officials to report cases of disregard for these standards without fear of retaliation.

The Ethics Office, however, will not replace any existing mechanisms available to staff for the reporting of misconduct or the resolution of grievances. A number of those mechanisms are listed in the Circular, paragraphs 14 and 15. This means that the Ethics Officer is not as such a mechanism for reporting misconduct.

In this connection the Ethics Officer is called upon to make a preliminary review of complaints of staff who allege retaliation subsequent to their reporting misconduct or cooperating with an audit or investigation.

This preliminary review may ultimately lead to the referral of the matter to HRD for consideration of a possible disciplinary action. This could appear as a relatively weak result of the protective action of the Ethics Officer, but this is definitely not the case. The possible referral to HRD in view of a possible disciplinary action would be a "qualified" referral, thus carrying some weight.

There is the need to protect appropriately in this connection not only the staff member alleging retaliation but also the rights of the accused official, ensuring the fairness and the transparency of the whole procedure, strictly following the rules of natural justice and due process.