Private sector employment
In case of non-compliance, the Law provides for disciplinary sanctions against anyone who violates the measures aimed at protecting the whistleblowers.
Moreover, the whistleblower or his or her union representative has the right to report any detrimental measure against the whistleblower to the National Labour Inspectorate.
In case of non-compliance, any dismissal, demotion or any other retaliatory or detrimental measure taken against the whistleblower is null and void and the burden of proof is on the employer.
Finally, failure to implement measures to protect whistleblowers or non-compliance with Law as regards protecting whistleblowers may also lead to nullifying the exemption regime on corporate criminal liability, which would otherwise derive from the adoption of the Decree 231 Model by the employer-company.
Government sector employment
In the Government sector, the whistleblower (or his or her union representative) must notify ANAC of any alleged retaliatory or detrimental measure taken against the whistleblower, in order for any remedy action to be taken or sanction to be imposed.
Following due notification, the Law provides for the following sanctions/remedies:
- In the event of detrimental treatment against the whistleblower adopted by the public administration, there may be pecuniary administrative sanctions ranging from €5,000 to €30,000.
- In the event of inappropriate reporting procedures and systems for managing reports, there may be pecuniary administrative sanctions ranging from €10,000 to €50.000.
- In the event of failure to properly examine and process received reports, there may be a pecuniary administrative sanction ranging from €10,000 to €50.000.
- The whistleblower who has been dismissed because of his or her report is entitled to be reinstated and in this case the burden of proof is on the Government sector employer to prove that the dismissal was neither discriminatory nor retaliatory.