Visselblåsarskydd inom det offentliga - Nytt EU-direktiv, nya regler?
(2018) JURM02 20181Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Sverige har en lång tradition av offentlighet inom den offentliga sektorn och har ett starkt skydd för arbetstagare som rapporterar om missförhållanden. Den 23 april 2018 lade EU-kommissionen fram ett förslag till direktiv om att stärka skyddet för arbetstagare som rapporterar om missförhållanden, både inom den privata och den offentliga sektorn. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur det svenska skyddet ser ut för de arbetstagare som rapporterar om missförhållanden inom den svenska offentliga sektorn och se hur dessa regler förhåller sig till EU-kommissionens föreslagna direktiv.
För svensk del råder det ett omfattande skydd för yttrandefrihet och meddelarfrihet för personer anställda inom den offentliga sektorn. Detta skapar... (More) - Sverige har en lång tradition av offentlighet inom den offentliga sektorn och har ett starkt skydd för arbetstagare som rapporterar om missförhållanden. Den 23 april 2018 lade EU-kommissionen fram ett förslag till direktiv om att stärka skyddet för arbetstagare som rapporterar om missförhållanden, både inom den privata och den offentliga sektorn. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur det svenska skyddet ser ut för de arbetstagare som rapporterar om missförhållanden inom den svenska offentliga sektorn och se hur dessa regler förhåller sig till EU-kommissionens föreslagna direktiv.
För svensk del råder det ett omfattande skydd för yttrandefrihet och meddelarfrihet för personer anställda inom den offentliga sektorn. Detta skapar förutsättningar för allmänheten att få insyn i organisationen. Detta skapar även en trygghet för den enskilde arbetstagaren att kunna lyfta exempelvis missförhållanden till ytan och göra det möjligt att granska. På så sätt främjas demokratin och det skapas en tillit till den offentliga verksamheten. Skyddet innebär att den rapporterande personen inte får utsättas för några repressalier till följd av sitt agerande, som till exempel avskedande eller omplacering.
Till yttrandefriheten och meddelarfriheten finns det dock vissa begränsningar som bland annat återfinns inom sekretessområdet. Det är framförallt begränsningar i att sprida information vidare som kan skada rikets säkerhet eller orsaka allvarlig skada gentemot den enskilde. Begränsningar av dessa slag återfinns i offentlighets- och sekretesslagen. Men det finns även vissa begränsningar till yttrandefriheten när det gäller den anställdes möjligheter att uttrycka sig kritiskt mot sin arbetsgivare och sin arbetsplats. Arbetsdomstolen har till exempel angett att det är möjligt för arbetsgivaren att avskeda eller omplacera personal om det uppstår samarbetssvårigheter eller om agerandet kan skada arbetsplatsens varumärke.
Direktivet som EU-kommissionen har föreslagit är minimikrav som ska gälla i alla unionens medlemsstater och syftar till att skydda personer som rapporterar om missförhållanden inom vissa angivna områden. Exempel på sådana områden är offentlig upphandling, miljöskydd och folkhälsan. Personer som omfattas av direktivet och rapporterar om missförhållanden inom dessa områden ska vara skyddade mot all typ av repressalier, både direkta och indirekta.
Det svenska skyddet för personer som rapporterar om missförhållanden i offentlig sektor sträcker sig i de flesta avseenden längre än de krav som det föreslagna direktivet ställer upp. En ändring som Sverige kan behöva göra är dock att se till att de myndigheter som är ansvariga för att ta emot rapporter från personer som rapporterar externt har kommunikationsvägar som är helt frånkopplade från myndighetens allmänna kommunikationsvägar. Sverige måste även se över meddelarfriheten för de personer som arbetar på dessa myndigheter och kommer i kontakt med dessa rapporter. (Less) - Abstract
- Sweden have a great tradition of openness within the public sector and have a strong protection regarding persons reporting on breaches from a organisation. On April 23 in 2018 the European Commission (EC) made a proposal for a directive regarding a stronger protection for workers reporting on breaches of the Union Law, both within the private and the public sector. The purpose of this essay is to examine the Swedish protection for the persons reporting on breaches with in the public sector and have a closer look how this legislation relates to the proposal for a new directive from the EC.
The Swedish legislation have an extensive protection for workers regarding their freedom of communicate information and exercise their freedom of... (More) - Sweden have a great tradition of openness within the public sector and have a strong protection regarding persons reporting on breaches from a organisation. On April 23 in 2018 the European Commission (EC) made a proposal for a directive regarding a stronger protection for workers reporting on breaches of the Union Law, both within the private and the public sector. The purpose of this essay is to examine the Swedish protection for the persons reporting on breaches with in the public sector and have a closer look how this legislation relates to the proposal for a new directive from the EC.
The Swedish legislation have an extensive protection for workers regarding their freedom of communicate information and exercise their freedom of speech with in the public sector. This creates conditions for transparency within the organisation towards the public. This also creates security to the individual worker to raise awareness of breaches and a possibility to investigate further. In that way, the democratic society grows and it establishes a trust towards the public sector. The reporting person shall not have any sort of retaliation, like dismissal or redeployment, because of his or her actions.
However, the freedom of speech and the freedom of communication within the public sector have some limits. These limits can, for example, be found within the Swedish secrecy legislation. The limitation is mostly regarding the possibility to communicate information that might harm the security of the realm or cause serious damage for the individual. These limits can be found in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (Offentlighets- och sekretesslagen). Besides the limitations in the secrecy legislation, there are also limitations to the freedom of speech when it comes to the possibility to direct criticism toward the employer and place of work. For example have the Swedish Labour Court given the employer the right to dismiss or redeploy a worker if their use of freedom of speech creates cooperation difficulties within the place of work or the actions hurts the public opinion about the workplace.
The EC’s proposal for a new directive is a minimum standard and allows provisions more favourable for the reporting person. The purpose of the directive is to protect the person reporting on breaches within selected areas. Examples of these areas are public procurement, protection of the environment and public health. The person reporting and falls within the scope of the directive shall be protected from any sort of retaliation, both direct and indirect.
The Swedish protection regarding a person reporting on breaches within the public sector is more extensive in the most aspect compared to the proposed directive. One change that the Swedish legislator might have to take into consideration is regarding the requirement of secure external reporting channels to the competent authority. These channels have to, amongst other requirements, be separated from the general communication channels. Another aspect the Swedish legislator have to take into consideration is how the freedom to communicate information for the workers in the competent authorities might interfere with the proposed directive. (Less)
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http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8941568
- author
- Lillberg, Rasmus LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Whistleblower protection within the public sector
- course
- JURM02 20181
- year
- 2018
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- EU-rätt, förvaltningsrätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 8941568
- date added to LUP
- 2018-06-15 10:29:10
- date last changed
- 2018-06-15 10:29:10
@misc{8941568, abstract = {{Sweden have a great tradition of openness within the public sector and have a strong protection regarding persons reporting on breaches from a organisation. On April 23 in 2018 the European Commission (EC) made a proposal for a directive regarding a stronger protection for workers reporting on breaches of the Union Law, both within the private and the public sector. The purpose of this essay is to examine the Swedish protection for the persons reporting on breaches with in the public sector and have a closer look how this legislation relates to the proposal for a new directive from the EC. The Swedish legislation have an extensive protection for workers regarding their freedom of communicate information and exercise their freedom of speech with in the public sector. This creates conditions for transparency within the organisation towards the public. This also creates security to the individual worker to raise awareness of breaches and a possibility to investigate further. In that way, the democratic society grows and it establishes a trust towards the public sector. The reporting person shall not have any sort of retaliation, like dismissal or redeployment, because of his or her actions. However, the freedom of speech and the freedom of communication within the public sector have some limits. These limits can, for example, be found within the Swedish secrecy legislation. The limitation is mostly regarding the possibility to communicate information that might harm the security of the realm or cause serious damage for the individual. These limits can be found in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (Offentlighets- och sekretesslagen). Besides the limitations in the secrecy legislation, there are also limitations to the freedom of speech when it comes to the possibility to direct criticism toward the employer and place of work. For example have the Swedish Labour Court given the employer the right to dismiss or redeploy a worker if their use of freedom of speech creates cooperation difficulties within the place of work or the actions hurts the public opinion about the workplace. The EC’s proposal for a new directive is a minimum standard and allows provisions more favourable for the reporting person. The purpose of the directive is to protect the person reporting on breaches within selected areas. Examples of these areas are public procurement, protection of the environment and public health. The person reporting and falls within the scope of the directive shall be protected from any sort of retaliation, both direct and indirect. The Swedish protection regarding a person reporting on breaches within the public sector is more extensive in the most aspect compared to the proposed directive. One change that the Swedish legislator might have to take into consideration is regarding the requirement of secure external reporting channels to the competent authority. These channels have to, amongst other requirements, be separated from the general communication channels. Another aspect the Swedish legislator have to take into consideration is how the freedom to communicate information for the workers in the competent authorities might interfere with the proposed directive.}}, author = {{Lillberg, Rasmus}}, language = {{swe}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Visselblåsarskydd inom det offentliga - Nytt EU-direktiv, nya regler?}}, year = {{2018}}, }