Advancing a Human Rights Framework Toward Whistleblowing in Human Resource (HR) Strategy and Practice

Through legal case analysis and examining organizational learning from statutory public inquires in the United Kingdom (UK) this chapter advocates for the advancement of the human rights framework towards whistleblowing in Human Resource (HR) strategy and practice. A spate of corporate scandals in the UK, which were all revealed to have had early disclosure of wrong doing but employee concerns were ignored, have had devastating consequences to the victims and UK public finances due to subsequent compensation claims and costs of the public inquiry. In conjunction with the growing role of human rights, arguments in UK legal cases involving whistleblowing (and other areas of employment law) we contend legal mechanisms can act to reframe and strengthen whistleblowing protections and speak-up cultures. Limitations to current HR whistleblowing strategies and practices which assume whistleblowing takes place within an ethical vacuum and is free from wider organizational power imbalances is also explored to support the case for a discursive turn towards universal human rights.