New legislation designed to protect employees who are ‘whistle-blowers’ became operative on 21 October, 2011.The Good Governance Act 2011 (“the Act”) provides that a ‘whistle-blower’ a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities that have occurred in a government department, a public or private organisation, or a company will be protected from unfair dismissal and disciplinary action by their employers. The alleged misconduct is normally in relation to violation of a law or regulation, a health/safety violation, or corruption/fraud.Until the Act was introduced, ‘whistle-blowers’ in Bermuda did not have any protection from reprisals. Naturally, that lack of protection meant that employees were reluctant to report alleged misconduct by their employers no matter how serious the misconduct was because they feared retaliation from their employer by way of termination, suspension, demotion, or harsh mistreatment by other employees.However, clause 7 of the Act has amended section 28(1) of the Employment Act to provide a new ground of unfair dismissal if a person is dismissed by their employer for making a ‘protected disclosure’.Section 29A of the Employment Act provides that a person makes a protected disclosure if he notifies a ‘listed person’ in writing that he has reasonable grounds to believe that his employer or another employee has committed, is committing, or is about to commit, a criminal offence or breach of statutory obligation related to the employer’s business, or that he himself has been asked to commit a criminal offence or breach of statutory obligation, or that evidence of either has been, is being or is likely to be, destroyed.Listed persons are defined under section 29A (2) and include a relatively wide variety of individuals, including:n The person’s employer or manager or supervisorn A police officern The Collector of Customsn The Chief Fire Officern The Chief Environmental Officern A Health and Safety Officern The Auditor Generaln The Ombudsmann The Accountant Generaln The Director of Project Management and Procurementn The Director of the Financial Intelligence Agencyn The Director of Internal AuditThe idea is that an employee will make a ‘protected disclosure’ to an appropriate ‘listed person’ depending on what the alleged breach is. For example, if an employer was knowingly in breach of health and safety regulations then the appropriate ‘listed person’ for the employee to approach would be a Health and Safety Officer.The new section 29A will not protect employees who approach individuals or entities that are not a listed person for example, a journalist or media outlet. In this regard, if an employee makes a complaint public through the media then they will remain at risk of being sued by the employer for defamation. The complaint must be made in accordance with section 29A to receive protection under the legislation.The protection will prevent an employer from terminating or taking any other action against an employee who makes a ‘protected disclosure’. Should an employer attempt to prevent an employee from making such a disclosure, either in terms of the employment contract or other agreement specifically, the new section 29A of the Employment Act will make such provision void because it purports to prevent a person (the employee) from making the protected disclosure.Attorney Adam Collieson is a member of the Litigation and Insolvency Practice Group at Appleby (Bermuda) Limited. A copy of Mr Collieson’s column can be obtained on the Appleby website at www.applebyglobal.com.This column should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice. Before proceeding with any matters discussed here, persons are advised to consult with a lawyer.