Labour Law Protection of Whistleblowers in Republic of Slovenia in Light of the EU Whistleblower Directive

Žvižgači imajo ključno vlogo pri odkrivanju kršitev, ki lahko ogrožajo javni interes in nasploh vladavino prava, vendar jih lahko neučinkovita in razdrobljena zaščita pred povračilnimi ukrepi odvrača od razkrivanja nepravilnosti. Direktiva EU o žvižgačih z vzpostavitvijo močnih minimalnih standardov poskuša poenotiti do sedaj razdrobljeno in neenakomerno zaščito žvižgačev v EU, vendar pa velja le za prijave oziroma razkritja kršitev določenih področij prava EU. V Republiki Sloveniji je zaščita žvižgačev razdrobljena v različnih področnih zakonih, ki v različnem obsegu žvižgačem zagotavljajo zaščito pred povračilnimi ukrepi, ki so najpogosteje delovnopravne narave in spreminjajo delovnopravni status žvižgača. Slovenska delovnopravna zakonodaja trenutno ne ureja vprašanja zaščite žvižgačev, ugotavljamo pa, da se lahko žvižgači kljub temu sklicujejo na nekatere institute, katerih namen je varstvo delavcev pred nedopustnimi ravnanji delodajalca. Ugotavljamo, da s trenutno ureditvijo ni dosežen poglavitni cilj zaščite žvižgačev, to je spodbujati razkrivanje nezakonitih, neetičnih in nevarnih dejavnosti, s čimer se omogoča odprava posledic kršitev in preprečevanje prihodnjih kršitev. Zato se zavzemamo za sprejem specialnega predpisa, s katerimi bi se v nacionalni pravni red prenesla Direktiva EU o žvižgačih, hkrati pa naj se zaščita razširi tudi na osebe, ki prijavijo kršitve domačega prava. Menimo, da je poleg tega potrebna dopolnitev delovnopravne zakonodaje, s čimer bi se okrepila delovnopravna zaščita žvižgačev.Whistleblowers have a key role in exposing infringements that may jeopardize public interest and the rule of law. However, potential whistleblowers are often discouraged from reporting for ineffective and fragmented protection against retaliation. The EU Whistleblower Directive seeks to unify fragmented and uneven protection of whistleblowers in the EU by establishing strong minimum standards. However, these minimun standards apply only to reports of breaches of certain areas of EU law. In Republic of Slovenia whistleblower protections are found in number of different statues and only cover certain types of persons and only certain types of information. These statues provide protection against retaliatory measures in different extent. Even though whistleblowers most often run the risk of work-related retaliation, slovenian labour law does not regulate the issue of whistleblower protection. Nevertheless, whistleblowers may refer to certain provisions that protect workers from inappropriate actions of employer. We conclude that current framework of whistleblower protection does not achieve the main goal of this protection, ie. to promote the disclosure of illegal, unethical or dangerous activities in a manner that makes it possible to remedy these problems and prevent future problems. Because of that we think that it would be approriate to adopot a lex specialis that transposes the EU Whistleblower Directive, while extending protection to those who report breaches of domestic law. In addition, it is necessary to amend labour law legislation, with a purpose of strengthening labour law protection of whistleblowers