The ‘manner’ of making the disclosure

A whistleblower’s choice of language and manner when making a disclosure is important. Employers have been able to avoid liability by drawing a distinction between penalising a worker because of their protected disclosure (which would be unlawful) and penalising them for the way in which they made it. An employer is unlikely to breach PIDA if they dismiss or punish a whistleblower who uses discriminatory, abusive or intimidating language or behaviour when making their disclosure. As always, each case will depend on its own factual context. An employer can discipline a worker for misconduct that is unrelated to a disclosure as long as they act fairly, and can even dismiss if that misconduct is sufficiently serious. In practice, it is sensible to be polite, objective and moderate when disclosing any suspected wrongdoing at work, carefully following the employer’s whistleblowing policy if there is one. This is another good reason for making any disclosure in writing and only after taking careful specialist advice.