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What to Do When a Report Comes In?

Typically, very few cases are reported each year. When a report comes in, it is always a special situation. This rough process serves as a quick guide:

  1. Send an acknowledgment of receipt within the legal deadline of 7 days:

    Dear Whistleblower,

    We have received your report from {Date} and are beginning to process it.

    Best regards,
    {First Name Last Name}

  2. Check whether

    • this report is relevant to your work in the internal reporting office AND
    • this matter could be true.

  3. Plan further investigations and conduct these investigations by involving only the necessary persons.

  4. Determine follow-up actions. These could include, for example:

    • Outsourcing the internal investigation to a law firm.
    • Filing a report with the public prosecutor's office.
    • Reporting the matter to the HR department for potential disciplinary actions by them.
    • Terminating the investigation (due to lack of evidence).
    • Other measures

  5. Inform the whistleblower within 3 months of the actions taken and further planned follow-up actions. Justify these actions. You may not be able to discuss personal consequences for accused persons due to data protection reasons.

  6. Maintain legally sound documentation for at least 3 years.

Documents from your professional expertise training should provide further, detailed information.

warning

This list does not claim to be exhaustive.