Whistleblower prison officer wins €30k for poor treatment

A prison officer has been awarded €30,000 as a result of unfair treatment he received after making a protected disclosure, in what is believed to be the first of its kind under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014.

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled the prison officer was not informed for over a year that a potential security threat to him, which left him and his family in fear, had been lifted.

The deciding officer said this “failure of management to inform the complainant, despite his very clear, cogent descriptions of the affects of the matter on his family, constituted unfair treatment” under the act.