Protection of Whistleblowers of Anti-social Activities

The Corps of Prison and Court Guard (hereinafter referred to as the „Corps“) in connection with Act No. 54/2019 Coll. on the protection of whistleblowers of anti-social activities and on amendments and supplements to certain acts, as amended by Act No. 189/2023 Coll. (hereinafter referred to as the „Act“) publishes the following information:

For the purposes of reporting anti-social activities within the Corps, the employer is understood to be the Directorate General of the Corps and the prison institutions of the Corps.

A whistleblower is a natural person who, in good faith, makes a report to the authority competent to receive the report (law enforcement authorities), the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers of Anti-social Activities (hereinafter referred to as the „Office“), or the employer.

A natural person is also considered a whistleblower if they:

1. make a report and their employment relationship or other similar relationship has ended, if they became aware of information about anti-social activities during the duration of this employment relationship or other similar relationship,

2. make a report and their employment relationship or other similar relationship has not yet begun, if they became aware of information about anti-social activities during the selection process or as part of pre-contractual relationships,

3. made a report anonymously and their identity was revealed,

4. disclosed information about anti-social activities that they learned during the selection process or as part of pre-contractual relationships and their employment relationship or other similar relationship has not yet begun, or during the duration of an employment relationship or other similar relationship or after the end of an employment relationship or other similar relationship due to the fact that they made a report through the internal reporting system and were not informed of the result of the verification according to the Act or appropriate measures were not taken according to the Act and subsequently made such a report to the authority competent to receive the report and were not informed within a reasonable time of the status of the verification or the result of the verification, made a report to the authority competent to receive the report and were not informed within a reasonable time of the status of the verification or the result of the verification, there is a reasonable fear that the anti-social activity could pose an immediate or obvious threat to the public interest, or there is a reasonable fear that in case of making a report to the authority competent to receive the report, they would face retaliation, or in view of the specific circumstances of the case, there is a risk that the authorities competent to receive the report would not ensure an impartial and independent verification of the facts stated in the report.

A condition for any report is that it must be made in good faith, meaning that the person, based on the circumstances known to them and the knowledge they have at the time of the report, reasonably believed that the stated facts were true. If the person does not act in good faith, they are not entitled to protection under the Act.

Reporting anti-social activities is not considered a breach of a contractual duty to maintain confidentiality, nor a breach of a duty to maintain confidentiality under special regulations, if it concerns a duty arising from the performance of employment, profession, status, or office, and it does not concern a duty of confidentiality in connection with the protection of classified information, postal secrecy, banking secrecy, telecommunications secrecy, or tax secrecy, the protection of confidential statistical data, it does not concern a duty of confidentiality in connection with the provision and disclosure of data from medical documentation, a duty of confidentiality of intelligence service officers, or a duty of confidentiality in the provision of legal services.

The report contains in particular:

a) a detailed description of the act with all known essential facts, especially what happened, where, when, what behavior led to the suspicion, and who is the suspect,

b) information on how the whistleblower obtained the information that is the subject of the report,

c) information on whether there are witnesses or other interested parties, including their identification,

d) information on whether the whistleblower has at their disposal specific documents or evidence that it is desirable to attach to the report,

e) information on whether the whistleblower has already spoken to someone about this matter and, if so, with whom,

f) the identity and contact details of the whistleblower; if the whistleblower decides to submit a report anonymously, they do not state their identity.

A qualified report is one that can contribute or has contributed to the clarification of serious anti-social activity or to the identification or conviction of a perpetrator. With a qualified report, the protection provided is more robust and simpler for the whistleblower.

Serious anti-social activity is considered to be selected criminal offences under the Criminal Code (corruption offences, criminal offences of public officials, damaging the financial interests of the European Union, manipulation of public procurement and public auctions), but also other criminal offences for which the Criminal Code establishes a prison sentence with an upper limit of the penalty exceeding two years and more serious administrative offences for which a fine with an upper limit determined by calculation can be imposed, or a fine with an upper limit of at least 30,000 euros can be imposed.

A whistleblower, when reporting serious anti-social activity that is a criminal offence, may submit a request for the provision of protection, which is submitted to a prosecutor in writing or orally into the record.

A whistleblower, when reporting serious anti-social activity that is an administrative offence, may submit a request for the provision of protection, which is submitted in writing or orally into the record to the authority that is competent to conduct proceedings regarding the administrative offence.

A whistleblower has the right to protection based on a request for the provision of protection, which contains the name, surname, date of birth, and residence of the whistleblower submitting the request, the place of performance of their work, and the designation of their employer; the request also contains information about a close person, if they are in an employment relationship with the same employer as the whistleblower or is in an employment relationship with an employer that is a dependent person in relation to the whistleblower's employer, and the whistleblower is requesting protection for this close person as well.

Based on the granting of protected whistleblower status, the employer cannot perform a legal act under labor law or issue a decision in an employment relationship or other similar relationship towards the protected whistleblower without the consent of the Office. Any act performed without the consent of the Office is invalid.

If a whistleblower believes that a legal act under labor law was performed against them in connection with the report with which they do not agree, they may request the Office within 15 days from the day they learned of such a labor law act to suspend its effectiveness. The suspension of the effectiveness of a labor law act begins on the day the office delivers the confirmation of the suspension of the effectiveness of the labor law act to the whistleblower and ends upon the expiration of 30 days from the day of its delivery. The Office shall instruct the whistleblower upon delivery of the confirmation of the suspension of the effectiveness of the labor law act about the possibility to file a motion with the court for the issuance of a preliminary injunction. By delivering a motion for the issuance of a preliminary injunction to the court within this period, the duration of the suspension of the effectiveness of the labor law act is extended until the court's decision on this motion becomes enforceable.

If a whistleblower reasonably believes that they possess information indicating the commission of an administrative offence or a criminal offence, they are entitled to submit a report directly to the competent administrative authority, law enforcement authority, or the Office.

Advice and consultations in connection with reporting anti-social activity and in connection with the provision of protection will be provided to you by the Office pursuant to Section 9, Paragraph 3 of the Act, the contact details of which are:

Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers

A retaliatory measure is an act or omission of an act in connection with an employment or other similar relationship of the whistleblower triggered by the reporting or disclosure of information about anti-social activities, which has caused or may cause unjustified harm to the whistleblower or to a person according to Section 1, Paragraph 4, letters a) to e) of the Act.

A retaliatory measure is in particular:

a) transfer to another function or reassignment to another function without the consent of the prison officer,

b) termination of the service relationship of a prison officer or employment relationship of an employee by the employer,

c) termination during the probationary period,

d) disciplinary measure,

e) removal from a function, demotion to a lower position, or refusal of promotion,

f) non-recognition of a bonus or personal salary supplement,

g) pressure,

h) intimidation,

i) harassment,

j) damage to good reputation.

No one may threaten retaliatory measures or punish by retaliatory measures a whistleblower or

a) a close person of the whistleblower,

b) a natural person – entrepreneur or legal entity that the whistleblower controls, in which they have a share, in which they perform the function of a member of a legal entity's body, or for whom they perform work activity,

c) a natural person – entrepreneur or legal entity that controls a legal entity in which the whistleblower has a share or in which they perform the function of a member of a legal entity's body,

d) a person who provided assistance to the whistleblower in connection with the report, and

e) a responsible person or a person who participates in the fulfillment of the tasks of a responsible person.

Reports are received, registered, verified, and processed as a designated responsible person of the employer by prison officers professionally assigned to the preventive and security service department of the Directorate General of the Corps and at the prison institutions of the Corps.

The responsible person shall confirm the receipt of the report to the whistleblower within seven days from the receipt of the report. The forwarding of the matter for processing according to the Code of Criminal Procedure or according to special regulations (for example, Act of the Slovak National Council No. 372/1990 Coll. on offences as amended, Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 10/1996 Coll. as amended) is also considered verification of the report.

The responsible person shall inform the whistleblower in writing of the result of the verification of the report and of the measures, if any were taken based on the verification of the report, within 90 days from the confirmation of receipt of the report, or if receipt of the report was not confirmed, within 90 days from the expiration of seven days from the receipt of the report. If the verification of the report was concluded by forwarding the matter for processing according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the responsible person shall request the result of the processing to the extent permitted by the Code of Criminal Procedure and shall inform the whistleblower of it within 10 days of the delivery of this result.

If the verification of the report proved to be justified, the responsible person shall propose corrective measures in the record, the department of service activity that is to carry them out, and the deadlines by which this is to be done. Upon expiration of the proposed deadline, the responsible person shall request the competent department of service activity to draft a report on the measures taken.

During the verification of reports and registration of reports, there is an obligation to maintain confidentiality regarding the identity of the whistleblower and the identity of the person concerned.

When processing personal data obtained during the verification of a report, the procedure follows Act No. 18/2018 Coll. on the protection of personal data and on amendments and supplements to certain acts as amended.

The Directorate General of the Corps and the prison institutions of the Corps have regulated the procedure for receiving, registering, verifying, and processing reports according to the Act by an internal regulation.

A report can be submitted within the Corps:

a) in writing

1. by mail (in a sealed envelope with the clearly visible marking „DO NOT OPEN - REPORT“), by sending it to the correspondence address, according to the choice of the employer to whom the report relates - list of addresses:

2. via electronic mail to the address (available 24 hours a day) of the employer to whom the report relates - list of addresses:

b) orally into the record, on working days from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the registered address of the Directorate General of the Corps or the institution, according to the choice of the employer to whom the report relates,

c) by telephone, according to the choice of the employer to whom the report relates - list of phone numbers: