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Demand for whistleblowing legal advice has increased as businesses grapple with new legislation coming into force.
The revised Safeguards Act seeks to strengthen protections for workers, adding to the definition of the term “harmful harm.”
Law firm Tompkins Wake said there has been a nearly five-fold increase in demand for advice on the new law in the past 12 months – with strong interest from many firms.
Senior partner Tina Liu said the biggest question from the firm’s clients is how to comply with the law.
“The good news for them – especially for private businesses – is that the new law I think strikes a good balance between setting some clear guidelines on what the law expects in terms of compliance.
“[It also gives] Businesses have the ability to flexibly design machinery for compliance.”
Private businesses are not required to have a whistleblower policy, but Liu said small and medium-sized businesses should not ignore it.
“If they have employees, if they have contractors working in their business, I think they need to be aware that when things go wrong, they want to be able to give those employees and contractors the confidence to they come to the employer.to do that in house and manage it properly.
“[That’s] it’s another thing to let it loose and express it in other ways.”
Having a whistleblower policy sets the stage for serious misconduct and fosters an internal culture of trust, Liu said.
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