Module Learning Objective

use an assessment grid to examine situations involving protection

1. Regulatory Concept & Core Standards

In this video we will consolidate a skill: use an assessment grid to examine situations involving protection. Use the case to test what you would do in a similar situation. We will explain the proposed response step by step so that you can understand each choice and recognise when more information would be needed. The national regime has its own scope and conditions. An organisation may accept a broader range of concerns under its policy, but this does not mean that all of them automatically receive the same legal protection. The assessment distinguishes receiving information, following it up and respecting people's rights.

A consistent assessment separates five questions: who is reporting, how they obtained the information, which breach they describe, what grounds they had and which route they used. Add the risks of retaliation and the rights of the people involved. The grid guides the assessment but does not replace legal analysis of a specific case. Where information is missing, the appropriate response may be to request clarification securely.

Apply the following rule: At least one reporting method must be continuously accessible. Under section 10(2), an external person may receive and acknowledge reports; examination may be outsourced under the stated conditions for a non-public employer with fewer than 250 employees. An internal responsible person remains necessary. A section 12 application to suspend an employment act has a 15-day deadline from learning of it; this remedy differs from formal protected status. Portuguese RGPC is not Slovak law. Prevention methods are recommendations unless a specific applicable duty is identified.

2. Practical Implementation & Procedure

Create one row per case and avoid a single box labelled protected. Record known facts and uncertainties. Apply the national rules on anonymity and any formal recognition of status. Review provisional findings when new information emerges. A request for clarification must not turn the whistleblower into the organisation's investigator. Before moving on, turn this procedure into a sequence you could explain to a colleague. Identify the first check, the action that depends on its outcome and the record that allows the decision to be reconstructed. Follow the sequence on screen and identify the point where an error would change the result.

3. Case Study & Compliance Action

Consider three cases: a service provider reports documents seen while working; someone invents an accusation to harm a colleague; and a trainee presents plausible facts while acknowledging that she does not know every detail. The cases require different decisions. The trainee's more vulnerable professional position does not reduce the potential value of her information. Now read the case carefully. Separate established facts from information you would still need to confirm. Do not add motives or events that have not been described. This distinction matters when choosing a response proportionate to the information available.

The exercise is as follows: Which case involves knowingly false information if deliberate fabrication has been established? Choose an answer and write one sentence explaining it. During the pause, compare your choice with the criteria we have just considered. Also think about the material you would retain to explain the decision later.

The deliberately invented accusation. For the other cases, examine the national scope and protection conditions without requiring complete certainty. Reasonable grounds for believing the information true differ from a personal motive for reporting. Assess the statutory test at the time of reporting. An unsubstantiated outcome does not by itself establish deliberate fabrication.

One mistake to avoid is: deciding on the basis of seniority, job title or personal sympathy.

Now apply the national rule to a second decision. The team presents all preventive tools as mandatory for every organisation. How should it revise the explanation?

Separate Slovak legal duties, their scope and recommended practice. Public procurement and the departmental anti-corruption methodology have their own applicability. Portuguese RGPC is not automatically transferred. For recommendations state the risk, owner and effectiveness evidence; for a claimed duty identify the applicable legal basis.

National Legal Framework: Zákon č. 54/2019 Z. z., transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law.