Whistleblower Program

EAP Assist Whistleblowing Service 

EAP Assist provides an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) compliant Whistleblower Service to help achieve resolutions & solutions for employees & organisations. This is a free addon service available to our registered members & is intended to send a clear message to all employees & other stakeholders that ethical behaviour is a fundamental value of your company.  

Secure Portal 

Our Portal provides a safe & secure way to report & manage rogue behaviour, including bullying, sexual harassment, misconduct, fraud & other unlawful conduct. The application accepts messages & documents from the web & encrypts them for secure storage. The application offers the source the best anonymous technology available and is built consistent with the Australian Standards AS 8004_2003 ‘Whistleblower Protection Programs for Entities’.

How it works 

Effective arrangements for the confidential handling of disclosures include documented processes to:

• Receive whistleblower disclosures via our secure portal
• Assess the concerns
• Raise the concerns with the subjects & seek redress
• Communicate outcomes to the whistleblower

Whistleblower Protection 

The Corporations Act makes it illegal for someone to disclose the identity, or information likely to lead to the identification, of a whistleblower. The exception to this is if the disclosure is authorised under the law. The Act also makes it illegal for someone to cause or threaten to cause detriment to, or victimise, a person because they believe or suspect that the person has made, may have made, or could make a qualifying disclosure.

Qualifying Disclosures 

The whistleblower must have reasonable grounds to suspect the concerns that they report. A person is not protected for a false claim. It must be an allegation they have reasonable grounds to suspect is the case. A disclosure from an individual solely about their personal work-related grievance is not considered a qualifying disclosure, and therefore is not covered by the whistleblower provisions. In such instance you may wish to consider Workplace Mediation: https://eapassist.com.au/workplace-mediation/

Whistleblower Policy 

Under the Corporations Act as of January 2020 public companies, large proprietary companies and corporate trustees of registrable superannuation entities are required by to have a whistleblower policy meeting the requirements set out in the law.

The guidance further confirms that all corporations, regardless of size, are required to manage whistleblowing in accordance with the Corporations Act, and therefore even companies that are not legally required to have a whistleblower policy will need to consider implementing mechanisms to handle whistleblowing reports.

ASIC has released Regulatory Guide 270 on whistleblower policies, which provides detailed information on ASIC’s views as to what constitutes an effective and compliant whistleblower policy.

If you do not currently have a Whistleblower Policy you can download a proforma at: https://eapassist.com.au/workplace-documents/

Website Link 

For those registered members who wish to adopt the EAP Assist Whistleblower Service you are encouraged to place a link to this page on your website to help adhere with ASIC guidance. If you are not currently registered with EAP Assist go to: https://eapassist.com.au/costs/

Whistleblower Service 

The EAP Assist Whistleblower Service is consistent with the findings contained within the recent research by Griffith University Queensland: Clean as a Whistle – A five step guide to better whistleblowing policy and practice in business and government.

Make an Anonymous Report