Whistleblowers in company

Verified 23 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The employee may report to his employer or to various authorities outside the company (in particular the Defender of Rights) information concerning a crime, one offense, a threat or harm to the public interest (e.g. discrimination or harassment). The alert to the employer may also concern the company's grave risk to public health or the environment. We present you the information to remember in the 2 cases.

General case

A whistleblower is a natural person who flagged or disclosedwithout direct financial compensation and in good faith, information relating to a crime, one offense, a threat to or damage to the public interest.

It may also be a violation or an attempt to conceal a violation of an international commitment of France (International Convention on the Rights of the Child for example).

In a company, it may be an employee or a former employee, but also persons who have applied for a job.

The information must have been obtained as appropriate either during the performance of the contract or as part of the application for employment.

The information must relate to facts that are produced or for which there is high probability that they will occur. These may include facts of psychological harassment or sexual.

Please note

Facts, information and documents which fall within the scope of national defense secrecy and medical secrecy are, inter alia, excluded of the alert regime.

Guarantee of confidentiality of identity

The confidentiality of the identity of the reporting persons, the persons concerned and any third parties mentioned in the report shall be guaranteed.

The elements capable of identifying the whistleblower may not be disclosed without his consent. However, in some cases they may be forwarded to the judicial authority.

Where the persons responsible for the collection or processing of alerts must report the facts collected to the judicial authority, the information identifying the whistleblower may also be communicated to him. In this case, the whistleblower is informed.

Civil irresponsibility

Where the procedure for reporting or public disclosure is followed, beneficiaries of protection may not be ordered to pay damages and interest for damage caused by such reporting or public disclosure.

The whistleblower must have had reasonable grounds to believe that this procedure was necessary to safeguard the interests threatened.

Criminal irresponsibility

Where the reporting or public disclosure procedure is followed, the beneficiaries of protection are not criminally liable.

This irresponsibility applies to infringements possibly committed in order to obtain documents proving the information reported or disclosed.

However, there must not have been an infringement in order to obtain the information itself.

Protection against retaliatory, including disciplinary, measures

The protection shall cover any retaliatory measures which the whistleblower may be subjected to and which take in particular one of the following forms:

  • Suspension, lay-off, dismissal
  • Demotion or Refusal of Promotion
  • Transfer of duties, change of place of work, salary reduction
  • Suspension of training
  • Negative performance rating
  • Disciplinary measures
  • Discrimination
  • Failure to renew a fixed-term employment contract or a temporary employment contract.

An employer who acts or takes a decision against the whistleblower that is contrary to the principle of protection may have his action annulled by the judge.

Whistleblowers who believe that they are the victim of a measure contrary to this principle of protection may thus refer the matter to the labor court.

No. The protection concerns the whistleblower, but also any natural person (colleagues, relatives) or moral (including a trade union) that assists in the reporting or disclosure.

No. The whistleblower is not obliged to follow a specific procedure to benefit from the protection.

The whistleblower can thus decide to make an internal report or an external report.

Internal reporting

The internal reporting procedure differs depending on the size of the company:

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Company with less than 50 employees

If there is no internal procedure for the collection and processing of reports in the company, the internal report may be made to the supervisor.

It can also be done directly to the employer or to a referent designated by the employer.

Company of 50 or more employees

The employer shall establish an internal procedure for the collection and processing of reports, after consulting the CSE: titleContent.

This procedure must be communicated to employees by any means (display, note, message, etc.).

The author shall be informed of the receipt of his report within 7 working days from that receipt.

It shall also be informed in writing, within a reasonable time, measures envisaged or taken.

This period may not, in any case, exceed the following periods:

  • 3 months from the acknowledgement of receipt of the alert
  • 3 months from the end of a period of 7 working days in the absence of an acknowledgement of receipt.

Please note

Several companies, with a workforce less than 250 employees, may pool a procedure for the collection and processing of alerts.

External reporting

External reporting may be carried out either directly, or after internal reporting.

It shall be carried out with the following authorities or institutions:

  • Defender of Rights
  • Judicial authority
  • Institution, body, office or agency of the European Union (EU) competent to deal with a breach of EU law
  • Competent authority, in particular :
    • DGCCRF: titleContent
    • HAS: titleContent
    • Cnil: titleContent
    • DGT: titleContent
    • DGEFP: titleContent.

The external report shall specify whether or not an internal report has been transmitted.

The author of the alert must be informed in writing of its receipt within 7 working days, except in special cases (e.g. preservation of the identity of the author).

The authority seised shall communicate in writing to the author of the alert, within a reasonable time, measures envisaged or taken.

This period may not, in any case, exceed the following periods:

  • 3 months from the acknowledgement of receipt of the alert
  • 3 months from the end of a period of 7 working days in the absence of an acknowledgement of receipt.

The time limit may, however, be extended to 6 months if the circumstances of the case so warrant.

Public disclosure

The rules differ depending on whether an external alert has been issued by acknowledgement of receipt or not:

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In the presence of an acknowledgement of receipt of the external alert

Public disclosure is possible only in the following cases :

  • If no appropriate action was not taken in response to this report:
    • If one of the competent authorities has been seized (DGCCRF: titleContent, ASN: titleContent...), after a 3 months fromacknowledgement of receipt of alert
    • If another authority has been seized (defender of rights, judicial authority...), after a period of 6 months fromacknowledgement of receipt of alert.
  • In case of serious and imminent danger
  • In case of imminent or obvious danger to the general interest
  • When the external report causes the whistleblower to incur a risk of retaliation
  • When the external reporting has no chance of success.

In the absence of an acknowledgement of receipt of an external alert

Public disclosure is possible only in the following cases :

  • If no appropriate action was not taken in response to this report:
    • If one of the competent authorities has been seized (DGCCRF: titleContent, ASN: titleContent...), after a 3 months from the end of a period of 7 working days from the time of reporting
    • If another authority has been seized (defender of rights, judicial authority...), after a period of 6 months from the end of a period of 7 working days from the date of the report.
  • In case of serious and imminent danger
  • In case of imminent or obvious danger to the general interest
  • When the external report causes the whistleblower to incur a risk of retaliation
  • When the external reporting has no chance of success.

Warning  

Protection of the whistleblower does not apply where public disclosure is prejudicial to the interests of defense and national security.

The Defender of Rights informed, advises, orient and protects whistleblowers.

The Defender of Rights may also be approached by any person to issue an opinion on his status as a whistleblower.

The Defender of Rights shall refer the whistleblower to the competent authority or authorities.

Guiding and protecting whistleblowers

Defender of Rights

Pour en savoir plus

In the areas that depend on his other missions, and in these areas only (discrimination, children's rights, etc.), the Defender of Rights processes and studies the report made.

The Defender of Rights is entered by mail.

You can also use an online service:

Enter the Defender of Rights online

Public Health-Environment

The employee alerts his employer if he believes, in good faith, that the products or manufacturing processes used or implemented by the establishment pose a serious risk to public health or the environment. If this employee is a member of the CSE: titleContent, special provisions shall apply. In all cases, these employees are specifically protected.

The procedure varies depending on whether the employee is a staff representative at the CSE: titleContent or not:

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The employee is a staff representative at the CSE

The staff representative at the CSE: titleContent who finds, in particular through a worker, that the products or manufacturing processes used or used by the establishment pose a serious risk to public health or the environment, by immediately alerts the employer.

The alert shall be recorded in writing in a special register with numbered pages.

This alert is dated and signed.

It shall include the following information:

  • Nature of the serious risk to public health or the environment
  • Potential public health or environmental consequences
  • Any other information relevant to the assessment of the recorded alert.

The employer shall examine the situation jointly with the staff representative at the CSE who transmitted the alert to him and shall inform him of the action he is taking on it.

The employee is not a staff representative at the CSE

The worker shall immediately alert the employer if he or she believes, in good faith, that the products or manufacturing processes used or implemented by the establishment pose a serious risk to public health or the environment.

The alert is recorded in writing in a special register whose pages are numbered.

This alert is dated and signed.

It shall include the following information:

  • Nature of the serious risk to public health or the environment
  • Potential public health or environmental consequences
  • Any other information relevant to the assessment of the recorded alert.

The employer shall inform the employee who sent the alert of the action it is taking.

Please note

The special register shall be kept, under the responsibility of the employer, at the disposal of the staff representatives at the CSE: titleContent.

Yes. The employee who alerts the employer about a public health or environmental issue cannot be sanctioned or dismissed for this reason, or be victim of a measure discriminatory.

Moreover, the employee who has alerted his employer on this subject cannot be responsible (civil or criminal) for any damage caused by his report.

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