Whistleblower Protection Act

On December 16, 2022, the German Bundestag passed the law for better protection of whistleblowers (Whistleblower Protection Act - HinSchG). It is based on the European Directive 2019/1937 and serves to protect people who report violations of Union law.

In addition, the German legislature has not only limited protection to the reporting of violations of Union law, but has drawn up a more extensive catalogue. According to this, a distinction is made between criminal offenses, fines and other violations. As a result, the law protects, for example, the accountant who stumbles across company-sponsored private trips by management, as well as the supermarket cashier who observed store management extending the sell-by date of groceries with new labels. Employees who uncover abuses should be protected as natural persons against retaliatory measures such as damage to their reputation, discrimination, warnings or dismissal.

The law implements this protection by reversing the burden of proof and the corresponding application of existing provisions of the General Equal Treatment Act. Furthermore, the employer must introduce a secure whistleblower system from a company size of 50 employees.