Whistle-blowing and the equality dimension of victimisation in the workplace

A considerable amount of attention has been given to the general law of victimisation under the Equality Act 20101 but scant consideration has been given to the equality aspect of victimisation relating to whistle-blowing in the United Kingdom, and the present article will address this. The term whistle-blowing relates to workers making certain disclosures of information relating to their employer’s activities in the public interest. Most workers in the public, private and voluntary sectors are protected from victimisation by making a protected disclosure under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. However, only qualifying disclosures (defined below) are protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. The protection against victimisation covers unfair dismissal and an action for suffering a detriment. However, this article will concentrate on the latter. In the process of considering the legal rules in the United Kingdom, the human rights dimension of cases will be considered as will comparison with the law in the United States.