Towards a Better Protection of Workplace Whistleblowers in the Visegrad Countries, France and Slovenia

This monograph is an outcome of research completed within the Visegrad Grant “Workplace Whistleblower Protection in the V4 Countries, France and Slovenia” – WhistlePro (2020–2021), financed from the International Visegrad Fund. The project aims to contribute to the improvement of the legal framework in the Visegrad countries concerning the protection of workplace whistleblowers and, indirectly, to the change of workers’ attitudes towards whistleblowing. Contributions prepared by legal experts from various countries and universities concern matters of universal importance such as freedom of expression relative to whistleblowing, personal scope of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive (2019/1937) or personal data protection. They also discuss the legal situation concerning whistleblower protection in the Visegrad countries, France and Slovenia and present recommendations for changes in the respective countries. The monograph culminates with a summary of proposals for the improvement of the legal situation of persons disclosing breaches of law in the work-related context. Given its topicality and in-depth analysis of legal problems related to adequate whistleblower protection, the book may be of interest to academics, practitioners, social partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and policy makers in the process of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive transposition in Member States. Dagmara Skupień

Introduction (Dagmara Skupień) 9 Part 1. Workplace Whistlebower Protection in the European and Comparative Perspective 15 Interactions between the Interpretation of Article 10 ECHR and the EU Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers (Marcin Górski) 17 Protection of Whistleblowers in the Workplace. Who Is Protected and Who Is Responsible under the Provisions of the EU Directive 2019/1937? (Zbigniew Hajn) 29 Shortcomings in the Workplace Whistleblower Protection in France: What to Expect from the Transposition of Directive 2019/1937? (Gwenola Bargain) 49 How to Improve the Protection of Employees-Whistleblowers in Slovenia by Implementing the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive (Darja Senčur Peček) 71 Part 2. Current Regulations in the Visegrad Countries and Proposed Changes 99 Protection of Whistleblowers under Czech Law within the Context of the Directive on the Protection of Persons who Report Breaches of Union law (2019/1937) (Jakub Morávek, Jan Pichrt) 101 Whistleblowing in Hungary (Attila Kun) 115 Workplace Whistleblower Protection in Poland: Current Situation and Perspectives (Dagmara Skupień) 141 Challenges in the Field of Whistleblower Personal Data Protection in Polish Law Compared to European Solutions (Edyta Bielak-Jomaa) 171 Slovak Whistleblowing Law after Revision – a Step Forward? (Peter Varga, Veronika Zoričáková) 189 Part 3. Summary of Legislative Proposals for the Visegrad Countries, France and Slovenia 209 Workplace Whistleblower Protection in the Visegrad Countries, France and Slovenia – Proposals for Changes (Zbigniew Hajn, Dagmara Skupień) 211 About Authors 247