Whistleblowing: the boundary between public and personal interest.

Whistleblowing rules, aimed at combating and preventing wrongdoing within public and private organisations, provide for a specific scope of application.

It is indeed possible to report breaches of national and EU legislation that harm the public interest or the integrity of the public administration or private entity of which the whistleblower became aware in a public or private work context. Consequently, excluded from the scope of the new rules are reports linked to a whistleblower's personal interest (relating to their own individual employment relationships, or to employment relationships with hierarchically superior figures), reports concerning personal security and defence, and reports relating to breaches already subject to mandatory rules in certain special sectors.

With judgment No. 1880 of 27 January 2025, the Court of Cassation reaffirmed that whistleblowing rules cannot be used for personal purposes or for grievances concerning the employment relationship against superiors.

In the case at hand, a public employee, having sent two reports to the Public Prosecutor's Office describing an unfounded set of facts and abusing his position to damage the professional reputation of the Director General and senior management of the entity he worked for, challenged the disciplinary sanction imposed on him. The Court of Appeal dismissed the claim, finding that whistleblowing rules did not apply to the case in question.

The matter, brought before the Supreme Court of Cassation, gave it the opportunity to reaffirm that a virtuous employee cannot be sanctioned, dismissed or subjected to direct or indirect discriminatory measures for reasons connected with a report made, which must concern unlawful conduct, not necessarily conduct of criminal relevance.

For the Supreme Court, therefore, this institution cannot apply to reports of a personal nature, aimed at pursuing grievances against one's superiors. Such conflicts are in fact governed by other rules and other procedures. Finding that this was the case here, the Supreme Court dismissed the employee's appeal, confirming that the protections afforded to whistleblowers did not apply.

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