Whistleblowing

floss2

rupee99 wrote: »

.... S/he cannot be dismissed, legally, for such actions ...

They can and may be dismissed, but as you say not legally, as it is automatically unfair as long as the whistle blower has followed their employer's policy & the guidelines outlined for public interest disclosure

jobbingmusician

I suggest that the employee raises a grievance against the manager(s) who are asking him/her to falsify dates. This will ensure s/he has followed company procedures. S/he should also raise the issue of the advice given by the company employee helpline.

(Ask for a copy of the grievance procedure to make sure you follow company guidelines). The grievance should also ask for a copy of the whistleblowing policy. But raise the complaint internally, using this procedure, first.

rupee99

floss2 wrote: »

They can and may be dismissed, but as you say not legally, as it is automatically unfair as long as the whistle blower has followed their employer's policy & the guidelines outlined for public interest disclosure

There is no requirement for ANY conditions to be met. It is unlawful to instruct anyone to commit a criminal offence, such action, by the instructing party, is a criminal offence in itself, that of incitement.

grey_lady

Eeek, please contact your local environmental health dept about this.
Can you imagine if someone who wasnt in the best of health or pregnant ended up with ecoli or listeria, really not good.

Even if you do it anonymously, this needs to stop asap.

DVardysShadow

rupee99 wrote: »

There is no requirement for ANY conditions to be met. It is unlawful to instruct anyone to commit a criminal offence, such action, by the instructing party, is a criminal offence in itself, that of incitement.

There may be a subtle difficulty here on reflection. Sale of out of date food is plainly illegal. Relabelling may not be illegal of itself - it is a contributory action to the crime - much like taking money for the food - the crime is the selling, not necessarily relabelling if the labels are not actually making any representation to the customer, nor the actual act of taking the money.

Mr_Falling_Star

If you have a Trade Union you could speak to a official of that Union. They would advise you what to do next even if you are not a member as its a matterof Health and Safety. My Guess is that the Union person will take on board what you are saying then discuss it confidentially with a Senior manager who should then put a stop to this. I was always surprised at what a quiet word in the right ear could do

floss2

rupee99 wrote: »

There is no requirement for ANY conditions to be met. It is unlawful to instruct anyone to commit a criminal offence, such action, by the instructing party, is a criminal offence in itself, that of incitement.

Sorry, but if you do not follow the guidelines here then you may not be fully protected.

As I stated before, I have gone through this experience and I strongly recommend that anyone considering a public interest disclosure reads the guidelines and takes advice, as the OP has done.

ankspon

There was a tv documentary about this,can't remember what it was called,i would defo tip off the food standards agency,someone could get seriously ill,what if it was a member of your family?

katiepoppycat

it might not be what your line manager wants to do . . . . i worked as a deli manager for a supermarket some years ago where it was common practice to relabel cheese - once the manufacturers packaging was cut, you had only 10 days to sell a hard cheese. I trained at several different stores and was told by lots of different people that ' this is what hte handbook says ,but this is what we actually do . . ' Store management deliberately turned a blind eye because it was in their interests to keep waste down. The inevitable happened, and every deli manager in the area got a major roasting, you could lose your job etc etc. 4 weeks later when waste had jumped by 80%, store managers wanted to know why we couldn't keep the figures down.

just wantedto say that your manager may be as unhappy about this as you are, but feel they can;t do or say anything.

ceridwen

Just wanted to say that you are brave and I admire you for this O.P.:A

Take care of yourself personally - but..yep...you DO need to report this.