Recital 21
Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law · UE 2019/1937
| (21) | This Directive should be without prejudice to the protection granted to workers when reporting breaches of Union employment law. In particular, in the area of occupational safety and health, Article 11 of Council Directive 89/391/EEC (31) already requires Member States to ensure that workers or workers' representatives are not placed at a disadvantage because of requests or proposals they make to employers to take appropriate measures to mitigate hazards for workers and/or to remove sources of danger. Workers and their representatives are entitled, under that Directive, to raise issues with the competent authority if they consider that the measures taken, and the means employed, by the employer are inadequate for the purposes of ensuring safety and health. |
In Luxembourg, the ITM remains the competent authority for occupational health and safety (amended law of 17 June 1994 and labour code book III), while the OFRS created by the law of 16 May 2023 is the cross-sector external authority for other reports. The law of 16 May 2023 expressly confirms that the reporter retains a free choice between internal channel, sectoral external channel and public disclosure, without any imposed hierarchy. Retaliation exposes the employer to criminal fines from 1,250 to 25,000 EUR, doubled in case of recidivism, plus full civil indemnification.
Luxgap practice: we systematically map the triple routes ITM, OFRS and sectoral authorities (CSSF, CNPD, CAA, ILR) in your internal rules, and we train your managers never to re-qualify an ITM report as an internal whistleblowing report.
