Legal advice about having a whistleblower hotline
Why?
A whistleblower hotline gives the employees the possibility to report wrongdoings and criminal offences or suspicions thereof, including for instance violation of the provisions on public procurement, financial services, products and markets, and knowledge or suspicions of money laundering as well as terrorist funding. The employees should also be able to report aggravated sexual harassment or other types of aggravated harassment which happen at the workplace.
Who must have a whistleblower hotline?
In accordance with the new whistleblower directive, all private sector companies with at least 50 employees and all public organisations are required to set up an internal whistleblower hotline. However, for employers in the private sector having between 50 and 249 employees, this requirement does not enter into force until 17 December 2023.
How to set up a whistleblower hotline?
An internal whistleblower hotline must be available to the employees of the company, but can also be made available for e.g. distributors, volunteers, interns or former employees.
A whistleblower must be able to report in writing, verbally or both, and a so-called whistleblower unit must be appointed to receive and handle the reports.
According to the directive, you may outsource the whistleblower hotline – in part or fully – for instance to external, impartial attorneys.
What does Lundgrens offer?
Lundgrens offers to establish and mange a professional whistleblower hotline for your company. The solution maintains a high level of security guaranteeing a high level of confidentiality and protection of the persons using the hotline.
The hotline will be managed by Lundgrens’s data protection team and employment team who have vast experience establishing as well as managing whistleblower hotlines.
Lundgrens’s whistleblower hotline includes:
- Establishment of the hotline and subsequent adaption to your company
- Drafting of a whistleblower policy and procedure for the use of the hotline
- Drafting og privacy policies and records of processing activities under the GDPR
- Screening af reports with a view to following up efficiently and correctly
At Lundgrens we cooperate with EQS A/S (Got Ethics), which offers a platform for reporting that can be adapted to your needs.
For further information, please contact us at email gdpr@lundgrens.dk.
