vhistle is the independent whistleblowing unit for your organization: Your organization has appointed us to accept and process tips about legal and compliance breaches within your company.

For you as a whistleblower, this means that you have been informed by your organization about our whistleblowing unit. Via the vhistle portal and the specified contact channels, you can contact us confidentially any time if you wish to report a possible legal or compliance violation in your company. As a neutral reporting office, we will process your tip independently of your company and in absolute confidentiality. The processing of the report by us is free of charge to you.

Confidentiality 

Vhistle offers the possibility for anonymous reporting. All tips are subject to absolute confidentiality. 

Uncovering wrongdoing 

With your tip, you are making an important social contribution to the clarification of misconduct. 

Independence 

As a neutral and independent party, we clarify the facts independently from your employer. 

Security 

Internal servers ensure secure communication channels. Attorney-client confidentiality and legal privilege guarantee legal security. 
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The reporting process

vhistle accepts tips via the reporting channels indicated on this website and documents them anonymously in accordance with the legal requirements. You will receive a submission confirmation for your tip within 7 days - provided you leave us a contact option. This way you know that your tip has reached us.
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The legal review

We examine every tip from a legal perspective. This is initially done based on the information you provide. If any questions arise, we will contact you via the contact option you provided. To ensure an effective fact-finding process, it is therefore very helpful if you are available for questions.
For further investigation of the information, it may also be necessary to contact the organization, e. g. to request documents or to interview employees. Of course, your identity will never be disclosed without your consent and confidentiality will always be maintained.
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The Following Stages

The next steps vary from case to case. This depends on the specific accusation and the results of our examination. Absolute confidentiality and protection of your identity will always be maintained. 
It will often make sense to provide feedback to the organization to remedy the legal or compliance breach and to prevent future breaches. If your tip has uncovered criminal acts of a co-worker, the organization may be advised to file criminal charges against that person. In addition, labor law measures may become necessary.

FAQ

Understandably, you have questions about the process and what it can mean for you. We have answered some of the most common questions here. If you have any further questions, please feel free to use one of the contact options below.
Why should I submit my tip here?
We are the whistleblower reporting channel for your organization. This means that your organization has entrusted us with receiving and processing information about internal legal and compliance violations. For you as a whistleblower, this means that you can contact us in confidence at any time if you wish to report a potential legal or compliance violation in your organization. As an independent reporting office, we will process your report independently of your organization and in complete confidentiality. The processing of the report by us is free of charge to you and through your report you contribute to the discovery and elimination of grievances.
What can be reported?
You can submit a report if you suspect or have concrete indications that either criminal offenses have been/are being committed or compliance guidelines have been/are being violated in your organization. Violations that can be reported fall under the following areas: • Corruption and tax evasion • money laundering • Property crimes (e.g., theft, misappropriation, embezzlement) • Antitrust and competition law • environmental protection • Data protection and IT security • Labor law (e.g., occupational safety, minimum wage and social security contributions, working hours, employee leasing) • Mobbing and harassment at the workplace
Will I incur any costs?
You will not incur any costs. The costs are borne by the organization.
Am I protected?
Yes. Whistleblowers are protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act. The central element of whistleblower protection is the prohibition of reprisals. Companies must therefore ensure that whistleblowers do not suffer any disadvantages because of their tip. These include: Suspension, dismissal, demotion or denial of promotion, coercion, intimidation, or mobbing, but also non-renewal of fixed-term employment contracts, damage to reputation, withdrawal of a license or permit, negative performance appraisal, etc. So you never need to fear any sanctions on the part of your employer. On the other hand, your identity is protected at all times by the confidentiality requirement. Please also read our notes under "Will my employer find out about my tip?" and "Is vhistle obligated to maintain confidentiality?".
What does vhistle do with my tip?
vhistle accepts tips via the reporting channels indicated on this website and documents them anonymously according to the legal requirements. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt for each report within 7 days - provided you leave us a contact option - so that you know that your report has reached us. vhistle will then consider this information from a legal point of view. If we have any questions for you, we will contact you via the contact option you have provided. Further steps differ from case to case. It may be necessary to contact the organization during our examination, to request documents or to interview other employees, for example. Of course, confidentiality will always be maintained and, most especially, your identity will not be disclosed.
What can my tip lead to?
Possible follow-up measures may include conducting an internal investigation. For example, if your tip has revealed a criminal offense committed by an employee in your organization, the organization may be advised to file criminal charges against that person. Additionally, measures concerning labor law may become necessary, such as a warning or termination of said employee. As a result, your report will make an important contribution to the elimination of wrongdoing in the organization.
Will my employer find out about my tip?
As an independent reporting office, we process your tip independently of your organization and in absolute confidentiality. If necessary for further clarification of the tip, we will inform your employer anonymously of your tip’s main content. You alone can decide whether to disclose your identity at any time. Please note, however, that there may be situations in which conclusions about your identity can be drawn from your information. To minimize the risk of such conclusions being drawn, please read the information under "How can I design my tip so that I am not identifiable?"
Is vhsitle bound to confidentiality?
We at vhistle are legally obligated within the scope of the confidentiality requirement to examine your report while maintaining confidentiality. Furthermore, as lawyers, we are already bound to confidentiality by our professional duties and have a legally anchored right to refuse to testify. This applies at every stage of the proceedings. Only in very exceptional cases are we required to disclose your identity; for example, if the public prosecutor's office or the court obliges us to do so. In all other cases, we may only disclose your identity with your express consent.
How can I design my tip so that I am not identifiable?
The more detailed your description is (e.g., mention of dates, names, job titles), the more effectively we can check this tip from the start. However, such a concrete description may potentially lead to you making yourself identifiable. Therefore, to protect your identity, it may be necessary to keep identifying descriptions abstract; for example, if you are part of a small department or want to report a specific situation that involved only a few people. From a technical point of view, you can protect your anonymity by using our contact form on this website and by setting up and entering a separate email address as a means of contact that does not contain any references to your identity. Uploaded files may also contain hidden information about personal data and may reveal the author or the last person to edit the file in particular. If you send us documents but wish to remain anonymous, we ask that you also remove this information before uploading. To protect yourself, we also advise you to submit the tip when you are outside your company network, i.e., when you are not connected to the company server either via your company's Internet access or via a VPN client. Do not use a terminal device provided to you by your employer (e.g., cell phone, tablet, PC) to submit the tip. Regardless of whether you provide us with your contact information or not, we will treat your tip confidentially in any case. Your contact data can only be viewed by vhistle and not by any other persons.
Will I be contacted by vhistle?
We can only contact you if you voluntarily provide a contact option. If you provide a contact option, you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt for each message within 7 days, so that you know that your message has reached us. If our examination of the reported facts gives rise to further questions for you, we will contact you via the contact option you provided. Furthermore, we will also inform you about the follow-up measures we have taken, provided that you have given us a contact option. As a rule, feedback is provided within three months of the tip-off.
What consequences will I face if my employer finds out that I provided the tip?
You are fully protected from consequences from your employer. Reprisals, including threats and attempts of reprisals, are prohibited. These include: Suspension, termination, demotion or denial of promotion, coercion, intimidation, or bullying, but also non-renewal of fixed-term employment contracts, damage to reputation, revocation of a license or permit, negative performance appraisal, etc. This will always be the case unless you have intentionally or grossly negligently made a false report. This means that even if you inadvertently misjudge a matter and report inaccurate or incorrect information, you remain fully protected. The only people who are not protected from retaliation are those who improperly or maliciously report inaccurate information.
Will I receive feedback on what follow-up measures have been taken because of my tip?
Yes, if you provide us with a contact option, we will inform you both about the receipt of your tip and - usually within three months of the tip being submitted - about what follow-up measures we are planning or have already taken and the reasons for these, provided that this does not affect further investigations and the rights of the persons named in the tip.