Malta has amended its Whistleblower Act for it to be in line with an EU Parliament directive.
Malta is currently only one of 10 countries to have adopted a whistleblower act framework.
Addressing the media, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said that the amendments are being put in force after the European Parliament adopted new directives for better protection of workplace informants.
Zammit Lewis then referenced a harrowing statistic revealed through Eurobarometer which states that only one out of every five employees who witnessed or were victims of workplace abuse come forward. “This statistic calls for a mentality shift in order for people to feel more comfortable in reporting these abuses,” he said.
The whistleblower framework in workplaces applies for both private companies and government entities which employ more than 50 workers. This however does not mean that small and medium enterprise employees cannot benefit from the Whistleblower Act.
Zammit then explained that through the amendments, certain definitions pertaining to the workplace have been amended. These include the definition of a shareholder, an employee and the introduction of the term ‘facilitator’.
The term shareholder has now been expanded to include all work personnel who belong to administrative, management or supervisory entities within the company.
Shareholders are now also considered as employees under the Whistleblower Act, Zammit Lewis said. The term employee has also been expanded in order to include pre-contractual relationships which protect people under the recruitment period in order for them to inform on malpractices on the workplace.
The pre-contractual relations amendment also includes workers who have left the place of work. Anyone who can provide evidence of working at the workplace during the malpractice being reported, he or she is informing on can do so since they are now also covered by the whistleblower act as per the latest amendments.
Zammit Lewis also announced that for the first time, all reports made by whistleblowers will be recorded and the same confidentiality agreements would apply throughout the process.
Whistleblower contact within the Ministry Davida Flores explained that a certain process has to be undertaken when reporting workplace malpractice. She said that the first step includes an internal disclosure process which requires an employee to disclose the issue to the internal reporting officer in order for the officer to move up the administrative chain to resolve the issue.
The next step would be external disclosure where if deemed necessary by the reporting officer, the relevant authorities could be involved in order to resolve the issue. The relevant authorities include MFSA, FIAU, The Office of the Ombudsman and others.
The final step is the public disclosure. Any whistleblower has the authority under the Whistleblower Act to go directly to the public if there is any risk of retaliation from external disclosure or if there is imminent danger to the public.
Photo: Miguela Xuereb - Newsbook