問19
頻出度★★☆
国民生活の安心や安全を損なうような企業の法令違反行為の事実を, 労働者が公益通報者保護法で定められた通報先に通報した場合, その労働者は同法によって解雇などの不利益を受けないよう保護される。 次の労働者の行為のうち, 労働者が公益通報者保護法の保護を受けられる事例はどれか。
平成26年度 春期 ITパスポート試験 問19
ストラテジ系法務 › その他の法律・ガイドライン・情報倫理
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 19
- ア
正解 The correct answer is ア. For the Whistleblower Protection Act to protect a worker, the report must satisfy both of the following. (1) The content of the report is a fact subject to reporting at the workplace (an act carried out in the course of business by the employer or its officers or employees) — that is, a fact violating a law enacted to protect citizens' lives, bodies, property, and so on. (2) The report is made to a reporting destination prescribed by the Act (an internal reporting desk at the workplace, an administrative agency with the relevant authority, or an outside party to whom reporting is necessary to prevent the damage from spreading). In ア, the worker reported a fact subject to reporting at their workplace, under their real name, to a reporting destination established under the Act, so both conditions are satisfied. The key point here is the phrase “it violated the workplace rules prohibiting leakage of corporate secrets.” The Whistleblower Protection Act makes a dismissal invalid when it is based on a whistleblowing report that meets the protection requirements, and it also prohibits disadvantageous treatment such as demotion or pay cuts. Workplace rules have no effect to the extent that they conflict with the law, so the worker cannot be treated disadvantageously for breaking an internal company rule, and this worker can receive the Act's protection.
Incorrectイ
The reporting destination is a correct one established under the Act, but the content of the report is “a legal violation in the private life of a colleague, unrelated to the workplace's business.” What the Whistleblower Protection Act covers is a fact subject to reporting that occurred in the course of the workplace's business; a legal violation committed by an individual in private life is outside its scope. Even if only the reporting destination is correct, protection under the Act cannot be received unless the content of the report is a fact subject to reporting.
Incorrectウ
At the stage of consulting a lawyer, the worker has not yet reported to a reporting destination prescribed by the Act. Consulting a lawyer is a preparatory act for considering whether to report, not the whistleblowing report itself, so this act alone does not make the worker subject to the Act's protection. Only after the consultation, when a report is made to a reporting destination prescribed by law, does the stage of examining the protection requirements begin.
Incorrectエ
The content of the report is indeed a fact of the workplace's legal violation, but the place where it was posted — a website that an unspecified large number of people can view — is not a reporting destination prescribed by the Act. External reporting is protected only when it is made to a party recognized as necessary for preventing the damage from spreading, and only when strict requirements are met. Unilaterally disclosing information in a place anyone can see is a release of information outside the framework of the Act, and it is not subject to protection.
ここがポイント
- The Whistleblower Protection Act is a law that protects a worker from disadvantageous treatment such as dismissal, demotion, or a pay cut when the worker reports a legal violation at their workplace (a fact subject to reporting) to a reporting destination prescribed by law (an internal reporting desk at the employer, an administrative agency with the relevant authority, or an outside party to whom reporting is necessary to prevent the damage from spreading). Whether protection applies is judged on two points: the content of the report and the reporting destination.
- For a whistleblowing report that meets the Act's protection requirements, dismissal or disadvantageous treatment on that ground is not permitted even if the report violates the company's internal workplace rules (such as a ban on leaking corporate secrets). It is worth remembering the relationship that the law takes precedence over workplace rules.
用語