Govt to Penalize Unfair Treatment of Whistleblowers; Considered Bill Follows Mistreatment of Whistleblower in Hyogo Pref.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:36 JST, January 26, 2025

The government plans to impose criminal punishments on both organizations and individuals that fire or discipline whistleblowers, according to an outline of a bill to revise the Whistleblower Protection Law.

The government aims to submit the bill to the ordinary Diet session convened Friday.

In the context of a case in which the Hyogo prefectural government disciplined a former senior government official turned whistleblower last year, the central government aims to increase the effectiveness of the whistleblower protection system by introducing provisions to punish violations.

According to the outline, if a whistleblower is dismissed or disciplined within one year of blowing the whistle, the dismissal or disadvantageous treatment is deemed to have been taken because of the whistleblowing. Under the bill, companies and other entities that fire or punish whistleblowers can be fined up to ¥30 million, while individuals involved in the decision-making or other processes face a prison sentence of up to six months or a fine of up to ¥300,000.

The bill includes a new provision stating that the government will conduct on-site inspections at companies and other entities that neglect their obligation of assigning personnel to handle reports from whistleblowers. A new criminal penalty of up to ¥300,000 will be imposed on companies and organizations that make false reports, refuse on-site inspections or fail to implement changes after being issued a corrective order.

While no punishments are included for identifying whistleblowers, such identification will be prohibited in principle except when necessary in the course of investigations.

Regarding the identification of whistleblowers, the Hyogo prefectural government identified and disciplined a senior government official who accused Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito of harassment.

Under the current law, which was revised in 2020, companies and other entities that employ more than 300 workers are required to establish a whistleblowing system, such as by setting up an internal reporting desk and designating employees to handle internal reports. While the law prohibits disadvantageous treatment of whistleblowers, there are no provisions to punish violators. An expert panel of the Consumer Affairs Agency compiled a report at the end of 2024, calling for criminal penalties to be imposed on companies and organizations that fire or punish whistleblowers.