Prague, July 11 (CTK) – The Czech government has approved a draft amendment to the legislation protecting people who inform about corruption, Olga Jerabkova, spokeswoman for the Minister for Legislation Jiri Dienstbier (Social Democrats, CSSD) told journalists on Monday.
The ban on their persecution is already embedded in the existing legislation, such as the labour code and the civil service law, Jerabkova said.
Dienstbier will not present any separate law, which was criticised by Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO).
Due to this, Babis proposed his own version of the protection of whistleblowers some time ago.
The government agreed with the version preferred by Dienstbier on Monday.
He preferred the amendment to the existing legislation.
It will back the employees by anchoring an explicit ban on punishing the whistleblower including an improvement in his procedural position in labor disputes,” Jerabkova said.
Dienstbier said the employer would newly have to prove that he had not acted in a discriminatory way.
“The solution was chosen that can be considered adequate in terms of its topic and legislative sphere,” Jerabkova said.
Dienstbier has dismissed a special law, arguing that “whistleblowers cannot be extensively put at an advantage over other vulnerable groups of employees.”
“I would not be opposed to some independent legal regulation if I had a clear instruction of what to write in it,” Dienstbier said.
“So far, no one has been able to tell me this. Hence our going in the way that is not pompous, but in my mind it has a potential to really improve the position of the whistleblowers,” he added.
At present, there is no comprehensive legislation regulating whistleblowing.
