Whistleblowing at work training notes

Use our training notes to assist with providing whistleblowing training to your workers. You’ll need to do this if you want to avail yourself of the statutory reasonable steps defence to avoid being vicariously liable for detrimental treatment of whistleblowers by your workers.

Vicarious liability

You can be vicariously liable for any acts of victimisation or detrimental treatment committed by your workers against their colleagues in the course of their employment on the grounds of the latter having made a whistleblowing protected disclosure unless you can show you took all reasonable steps to prevent those acts from occurring. As there’s no limit on the amount of compensation a worker can receive for detrimental treatment, you must take your whistleblowing obligations seriously. Therefore, make sure you put in place a training programme for your staff and managers using our Whistleblowing at Work Training Notes - these cover not only the legal provisions on whistleblowing and the terms of your Whistleblowing Policy but more importantly they set out your workers’ obligations relating to not victimising whistleblowers. Training staff is not only likely to assist in reducing the risk of detrimental treatment occurring in the first place, but also you have a much greater chance of being able to successfully rely on the statutory “reasonable steps” defence. We’ve drafted the notes in such a way that you can, if you wish, convert them into a powerpoint presentation. Aim to carry out the training on an annual basis.