Very angry about this!!

Sounds like someone in that company owes you an apology at least, frida

I admire whistleblowers, shows they have integrity and stand up for what is right. Good luck frida

ok well, well done, personally I am not too keen on whistleblowers/grass/spy

sorry I guess we will all have our own opinion on this...

I am happy for you that you are ok now, no one deserves to be un happy.

Whistleblowers are perfectly legitimate and most organisations have Whistleblowng Policies, if they would only adhere to them. We can be grateful to whistleblowers, who expose corruption, misconduct and failure to keep employees and customers safe. What's good about colluding with bad practice or criminality, if employers ignore it or refuse to deal with it?

Well done - you can hold your head up and know that you did the right thing.

cathy I'm slightly intrigued as to why you are not too keen on whistleblowers/grass/spy? Also your use of the pejorative word 'grass' rather than 'police informer'.
On more than one occasion I have had information that I have passed on to the appropriate authorities and honestly believe that not to have done so would have been to condone the activities.
frida, I admire your integrity.

cathy Surely you can't be saying that, for example, police who mistreat suspects or sell information to newspapers, healthcare workers who deliberately neglect or manhandle their patients, etc., etc. should not be reported?

Or public employees that are defrauding the taxpayer cathy ?

I think by the way that whistleblowing policies are the norm in the public sector but not private. Schools, hospitals, local authorities are obliged to have them.
Pleased for you Frida - what next?

frida Whistleblowing is a courageous act. Sorry that it felt as if your life was taken away. I hope you get it back pdq.

Good for you frida, doing the right thing isn't always easy.

cathy you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. There are times however, when it might be better to keep it to yourself.

Good for you frida

The Public Interest Disclosure Act covers organisations where a whistleblowing policy is not yet in place - this has been around since the late 90s, and will protect employees who whistleblow 'in good faith' if their employment is adversely affected, or ceases through resignation or sacking, by them making a public disclosure. Don't know how far back it applies in your case frida. You certainly have solid evidence for having to leave your job with these convictions, if you kept any records of the difficulty you were having.

If whistleblowers had been heeded, many lives might have been saved in the Staffordshire hospital. The NHS is supposed to have a policy to protect whistleblowers, but they have paid out huge sums for gagging orders. When my daughter was training to be a nurse, she asked the theatre sister if they should report an anaesthetist who was treating a patient with total disrespect. She was told, 'Go ahead, if you want your career ruined before you even qualify'.
I subscribe to www.whistleblowers.org which keeps me informed of the latest attempts to silence criticism or debate. Private Eye also does an excellent job of reporting attempts to silence people.
Apparently, there were no whistleblowers around when Savile and his peers were abusing children.
If a member of the staff at Kent and Canterbury Hospital had reported the appalling failure rate of a surgeon, my daughter's life, and that of more than a dozen other women, might not have been ruined. It was only when there were 75 separate complaints against him that he was suspended.

Cathy, I am afraid it is quite wrong to equate whistleblowers with 'grasses' - they can save lives.

I know that policemen who have tried to expose corruption have been ostracised and had their working lives made a misery. I wonder if fear of something like that happening kept some priests quiet, who were not themselves involved in abuse, but knew of it.

frieda well done you lets hope you get back to your old self

Frida so many times whistleblowers are the ones to suffer for exposing or highlighting poor or downright corrupt practices. They are brave people in my opinion for following their moral compass which so often causes them to have to leave employment and all the hardship that brings about. I wish you joy and fulfilment as you reclaim your life and future.

Lovely post Grannybug.

You're a brave woman, Frida. It is so wrong for whistleblowers to be victimised and ostracised.

Ah right when - public interest only so does not really affect the private sector in the main.

JessM it applies not only to the public sector, but also the private and charitable sectors: the Act covers whistleblowers in relation to:

a criminal offence;
the breach of a legal obligation;
a miscarriage of justice;
a danger to the health and safety of any individual;
damage to the environment; or
deliberate concealment of information tending to show any of the above five matters.

Jess I should have made it clearer. Public interest in the same sense that 'prosecution in the public interest' means across the board, not just public sector

Thanks ga you explained that so much better than me.

There is no substitute for self-respect and you Frida can enjoy that. I too am sorry that you experienced so much grief at the time and possibly since, but the fact remains you were right and you did the right thing. That takes courage (we need [dragon] emoticon again here) but will have to do!