Whistle blowing

[Namebunny]

Dp had an awful time with bullying management and redundancy just after he’d gone to hr finally. It’s put a lot of stress on us both.
He issued a grievance and it was investigated sort of but he feels the area boss and his sidekick got away with it.
Now he wants to whistleblow.
He says it won’t be stressful and will help him move on. I’m not sure I can take much more of it all and think he needs to concentrate on positive stuff .
Does anyone know what it actually involves? He is trying to protect his reputation, and stop the company chasing him if he sets up on his own.but won’t this make him enemies? We live in a main city but it’s quite a small world. Thank you

Just read another thread where a sars was raised. Dh did this but they somehow managed to duck it.

Whistleblowing means making a disclosure of wrongdoing that's in the public interest. ie wrongdoing which affects a number of people, not just your DH personally.

I'm not sure there's anything in your OP to indicate that your DH has information of that type...

What would he be whistleblowing about? Bullying wouldn’t come under whistleblowing, that’s a personal grievance. Whistleblowing would normally be thinks like fraud not being dealt with in a public sector or regulated industry, or health and safety breaches being covered up, stuff like that.

Hi, OP.

I have whistleblown in the past over issues relating to failure to safeguard vulnerable adults and Health and Safety failures in respect of lone working. The issues are in the public interest and related to keeping people safe, they did not relate to me or my own personal circumstances at work.

Did you mean to refer to raising a grievance instead?

Hi all, thank you.
He did raise a grievance. I think maybe he’s thinking that there is a bullying culture. 1 person got depressed enough to develop a tick and consider suicide. Another needed counselling, as did my Dp.
4 complaints have been made about a boss thumping his fist on the desk and being threatening and it feels like it has been buried by his boss.
It’s not really public interest though I’m guessing. Employee interest maybe?
It does list bullying on the things you can whistleblow about.

He has also left now and though it says ex employees can whistle blow I’m not sure of the effect on our lives.
I think he just wants to get some fairness for how the bosses are running their office.

Who would he be whistleblowing to? Is there a regulatory body or something?

It’s someone who is in the company but is part of the legal dept. I think.
She got involved in an important ( to Dp) dps grievance meetings but had to leave after 10 minutes.
Previously I rang the number and eventually a secretary answered and said it was a director - who was part of the problem, so Dp didn’t feel he could pursue it then ( he was employed at the time) shortly after he told hr, about his managers behaviour redundancies came up and he was chosen .They said his job had gone but it got very muddled in that he went from great assesment and inventing the flagship product to being told he was the worst inventor in the building. The boss may have been jealous? There is now someone with the same title. So I don’t understand actually, writing this, how his role has vanished.
It seems there is boss and sidekick and they report to a boss in head office - so no one else is checking.

I have no idea how any of that would constitute a protected disclosure under whistleblowing. If he feels his redundancy was unfair, he would probably have been given the opportunity to appeal it, and if still not happy, to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. If he wasn’t happy with the outcome of the grievance, he would have been given the opportunity to appeal it, and, if there was a potential legal claim involved, to bring that claim to an employment tribunal.

Not being happy with his own treatment during a redundancy and/or grievance procedure isn’t whistleblowing. He could try and contact this person but what would he want them to do?

Thank you.
He dropped out of taking it to a tribunal as it was so stressful and he got another job. It does sound like it’s not the right thing to do.
It’s very hard for him to get over. His invention was picked over the boss’s, and then almost immediately he was the supposed to have got someone round the throat, which wasn’t investigated. Then the stress ( I think) bought on a life threatening illness. The boss didn’t even get a card together.
I’ve heard a similar thing has happened to several of his colleagues, most recently one whose Dh was critically ill and the company was incredibly unsupportive.
I imagine he would need to get these other people to join in?

Join in what? A group claim of some kind? If he doesn’t want to bring a claim I’m not sure what he’s hoping to actually do?

What type of organisation is it? I don’t think whistleblowing is the right term from what you’ve said. He can make a full disclosure to HR bit whether they follow up would be up to them. Being a bully/aggressive boss isn’t illegal.

Thanks All! He’d love to bring a claim but there doesn’t seem to be anything he can do, he dropped tribunal as was told it would be several years of stress , they’d try to put him down and there would be no gain apart from a ‘yes yo were badly treated’ and it might actually cause more problems s for himself as the boss would retaliate with rumours etc. I think it’s the vast unfairness that’s getting to him. The boss’ minion can thump the desk and cause 2 female staff to complain about his aggression, but nothing gets done and the boss protects him.
Awful place. Well known company.

@Namebunny

Thanks All! He’d love to bring a claim but there doesn’t seem to be anything he can do, he dropped tribunal as was told it would be several years of stress , they’d try to put him down and there would be no gain apart from a ‘yes yo were badly treated’ and it might actually cause more problems s for himself as the boss would retaliate with rumours etc. I think it’s the vast unfairness that’s getting to him. The boss’ minion can thump the desk and cause 2 female staff to complain about his aggression, but nothing gets done and the boss protects him. Awful place. Well known company.

The best thing you can do is help him to build his resilience and focus on the future.

I've whistleblown and it was nothing like objecting to someone thumping a desk. I feel quite affronted by you equating the two and it really feels as though you are enabling him in some kind of victim mentality.

@Namebunny

Hi all, thank you. He did raise a grievance. I think maybe he’s thinking that there is a bullying culture. 1 person got depressed enough to develop a tick and consider suicide. Another needed counselling, as did my Dp. 4 complaints have been made about a boss thumping his fist on the desk and being threatening and it feels like it has been buried by his boss. It’s not really public interest though I’m guessing. Employee interest maybe? It does list bullying on the things you can whistleblow about.

"It does list bullying on the things you can whistleblow about."

Only if the bullying is in relation to having, or being perceived to have a protected characteristic:
"Harassment because of any of the following protected characteristics : (race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief or age) is discriminatory and unlawful.

If you are being harassed or bullied because you associate with someone who has a protected characteristic, this is unlawful. Also, if you are harassed or bullied because your bully thinks that you possess a protected characteristic (when in fact, you don’t) this is also unlawful."

Thanks lateralblow.
I certainly hope I’m not encouraging him to be a victim! And I apologise, the thumping on the desk is just one of a long long list of just under the radar unpleasant behaviours , but no, it’s not about a protected characteristic.
I think also that he should move on. I’m sick to death of hearing about it tbh. And now I can advise him that it’s not the right thing to do.
Thank you all!