Personal scope

The personal scope of the German Whistleblower Protection Act (Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz, HinSchG) determines who is actually entitled to the special statutory protection against reprisals. Under Section 1(1) HinSchG, protection extends to natural persons who have obtained information about breaches in connection with their professional activity, or in the run-up to such activity, and who report this information to an internal or external reporting channel or disclose it. The decisive factor is therefore not a specific type of employment, but the work-related context through which the person became aware of the breach.

Section 1(2) HinSchG deliberately defines the protected group of persons broadly. It covers not only employees, including civil servants, judges and members of the armed forces, but also people in vocational training, temporary agency workers, the self-employed, shareholders, members of management and supervisory bodies, trainees, volunteers, and persons working under the supervision of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. Protection further extends to applicants whose employment relationship has not yet begun and to persons whose relationship has already ended.

Beyond the reporting person, Section 34 HinSchG also protects so-called third parties affected by a report: persons who assist the whistleblower, connected third parties such as colleagues or relatives, and legal entities that are owned by the whistleblower or for which they work. According to Section 33 HinSchG, protection always requires that, at the time of the report, the person had reasonable grounds to believe that the reported information was true (good faith) and that it fell within the material scope. Reports that are knowingly or grossly negligently false are excluded from protection.