Slovakia woke to a new day with enhanced whistleblower protection required in their workplaces in September 2019.
Companies who fit the requirements of the new law, notably employers who have a workforce of greater than 50 employees, must put in place an internal system for accepting and reviewing disclosures from whistleblowers, as defined by earlier definition. The deadline for companies having this in place was 30 September.
The newly applied law, called Act No. 54/2019 Coll., on the Protection of Whistleblowers, came into effect on March 1, 2019. There was an earlier Act, called Act No. 307/2014 Coll., on Some Measures Related to the Reporting of Anti-Social Activities, which was replaced by the new act.
The new law puts requirements on employers about the people in charge of investigating disclosures in the internal review processes.
It expands protections of whistleblowers compared to the previous act. It also creates a new Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers. The activities include those that had been carried out by regional labor inspectorates. The Office will be charged with oversight of compliance with the new Act.
Finally, it introduced punishments in the form of new administrative offences for breaching requirements of the Act on Whistleblowing.