Whistle-blowing

The whistleblowing should refer to irregularities that are in the public interest to be disclosed. The information must therefore concern the public, and not the reporting person's own working or employment conditions.

Individual conditions t may in some cases be of general interest, if, for example, they are about repeated or systematic violations that can be considered unacceptable from a broader societal perspective. Violations of internal regulations such as codes of conduct may in some cases be of general interest.

Whistleblowing may also refer to violations of certain EU rules and Swedish rules that implement or supplement the EU rules. The EU rules covered are listed in Annex 1 to Directive (EU) 2019/1936 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons reporting infringements of Union law.

The reporting person does not need to have actual evidence. Reasonable concerns or suspicions are sufficient.

To be protected by the Whistleblower Act the reporting person must stand in a work relation to the University. Affiliation is indicated in connection with reporting.

To be protected by the Whistleblower Act, you are:

• an employee or has an assignment equal to an employment
• hired staff
• seeking employmen
• seeking or performing internships or volunteer work
• a self-employed person seeking or performing assignments
• a person who is part of the university adminitration, management or supervisory body

The protection also applies when you have left University West.

The whistleblower protection does not apply:

• when you report as a student or citizen of the community
• if what you report is not in the public interest or does not constitute a violation of specified laws
• if what you report only concerns your own working or employment relationships and it is not about corrupt acts
• if you intentionally and knowingly report false information or commit a crime through the reporting
• whether what you report concerns security-classified information in accordance with the Security Protection Act (2018: 585) or other information concerning the nation's security.

The protection for whistleblowers means a ban for University West to prevent or try to prevent reporting and to take retaliation due to reporting. The protection also consists of discharge from liability and the right to damages if the university violates the prohibitions.

Preventive measures may consist of the university offering a benefit in order that someone does not consult with their employee organization.

Retaliation is, for example, dismissal, non-promotion, changed work tasks, changed workplace, salary reduction and changed working hours.

Discharge means that you cannot be convicted of a breach of confidentiality if you blow a whistle. In order to be released from liability, the person reporting must have had reasonable grounds to assume that the reporting of precisely the information that was covered by the duty of confidentiality was necessary to reveal the misconduct.

Discharge is not given in the event of intentional violation of so-called qualified duty of confidentiality according to the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009: 400) or duty of confidentiality according to the Defense Inventions Act (1971: 1078).

Discharge is also not given when a whistleblower hands over documents. However, discharge applies if the person reporting does so orally or in some other way reports without handing over a document.

Whistleblowing protection does not apply if the reporting person commits a crime by obtaining information. This can be, for example, theft, unlawful intrusion, data intrusion, espionage or an unauthorized position with secret information.