I'm employed by a large and well known company who have been involved in some shady deals with other organisations and individuals. I am fairly sure I have information that would prove our director has been in breach of a lot of his duties as a company office holder. I'm scared of losing my job if I report this information to ASIC and the company finds out. Am I protected?
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Answer by LegalEagle™ staff, Northcote 3070 VIC
- The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) will provide protection to 'whistleblowers'. A whistleblower is usually an employee or contractor who reports on misconduct or illegal activity in their own organisation.
- There is a range of criteria that must be met before you make any disclosure about the conduct that you suspect to be in breach:
- you must identify yourself when you make the report to ASIC. This means giving your name;
- you must be either an officer (director or secretary), an employee or a contractor;
- you must make your disclosure to the company's auditor, a director, secretary, senior manager or a person otherwise authorised to receive whistleblower disclosure or personally to ASIC;
- you must have reasonable grounds for suspecting that the information you seek to disclose indicates the breach that you are claiming has occurred; and
- the disclosure must be made in good faith.
- If you are unclear about any of these issues you should seek legal advice before making a disclosure. If you don't meet all of the criteria you may not be eligible for the protection provided for whistleblowers by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).