Without them there would be no business WikiLeaks, Mediator or Clearstream, whistleblowers are at the root of the great scandals of the 21st century. In France, those who denounced have almost always paid a high price, but since the beginning of September a new law has been in place to protect them: the Waserman law.
These whistleblowers have seen their lives turned upside down, sometimes destroyed. This is the case of the one we will call Cécile. A few years ago, this purchasing manager for a large public body witnessed serious embezzlement. The case has not been publicized but we are talking about arrangements that relate to markets for hundreds of thousands of euros of public money, even millions. A few years ago, she denounced these facts to her n+1 before going on maternity leave. Her return marks the start of reprisals of a violence that she still considers unheard of today. “When the administration falls on you, you do not expect such reprisals, denounces Cecile. Suddenly you become the perjurer, the traitor who must be put down. And there, the ground gives way under your feet.”
“You are put in transit offices, no one speaks to you. In the corridors, people whisper when you pass. Even people who don’t know you have an abominable image of you. It’s exhausting because we don’t sleep at night anymore, it’s really appalling what we’re going through.”
Cécile, whistleblowerat franceinfo
Cécile took legal action. With this new Waserman law, she would not have had to notify her superiors first. In detail, this text specifies and diversifies the channels internal to the company, or external, available to whistleblowers to validate their approach. The Sapin II law was indeed considered imperfect because it favors internal reporting to the employer, a method that can be dissuasive or counterproductive. The whistleblower can therefore now, if he wishes, go directly through an external channel: Defender of rights, justice, administrative authority or authorized legal person.
The Defender of Rights will have a deputy specially responsible for assisting whistleblowers. Justice will also have additional tools to facilitate the defense of their rights. The “facilitators”, who accompany the whistleblower, will also be better recognized and protected. The text also provides for sanctions against those who seek to stifle their action by multiplying hostile procedures (“gag” procedures), or subject them to reprisals.
Another whistleblower, another story, that of Karim Ben Ali. He emerged despite himself from anonymity. Five years ago, on board his truck, he poured tens of cubic meters of products that he thought were toxic for months into a slag heap in Florange on behalf of an ArcelorMittal subcontractor. He then denounces these facts in a video that makes a lot of noise. He and his two brothers – also drivers – immediately lost their jobs. Karim knows depression, queues at the food bank. In 2021, the Metz Court of Appeal canceled the proceedings against ArcelorMittal for irregular waste management. Karim, he regrets: “This case, it ruined my life. When a little guy comes to denounce something in a large group, well! They crush it. In France, whistleblowers are not protected, they are not surrounded and they have to take on lawyers at their own expense. Since I did it in France, I expected more support from the state, the government… There was nothing. I had to be well surrounded as soon as I leaving for not having all that.”
Descents into hell like that of Karim are not isolated cases. You often have to move, find a new job, make your loved ones understand the situation. The whistleblower is quickly isolated, weakened, forced to make mistakes, but he is not alone. Experienced associations such as the Maison des Lanceurs d’Alerte or Anticor are counting on the new Waserman law to better protect those who dare to report. The new legislation provides for certain exceptions, such as facts and information covered by national defense secrecy, that of judicial deliberations or medical secrecy.
Among the external channels that can be of support for whistleblowers, there is therefore the Defender of Rights, and more specifically, her number 2, Cécile Barrois. Its mission is to advise and sometimes protect against reprisals. “We receive a hundred files from whistleblowers a yearshe says. Whistleblowers who will ask us for information: ‘When can I make my alert public?’ ‘Can I call a journalist tomorrow to make my alert public?’ ‘Am I taking a risk or not?’ They ask us to direct them by telling us that they want to issue an alert in such and such a field and who can they contact. And we will tell them such administrative authority is rather competent, for example the financial market authority or the French anti-corruption agency.
“There are also whistleblowers who grab hold of us saying, ‘I’m being retaliated against, protect me!’ We check that they are indeed victims of reprisals and we protect them. We intervene with their employer, with the courts to have the measures taken against them annulled.
Cécile Barrois, Deputy Defender of Rights in charge of supporting whistleblowersat franceinfo
“To launch the alert is to put yourself in danger. That’s the price”, explains Cécile, who worked for a large public body. The entourage, financial stability are very important when you start on this path. The advice especially of those who have already been there, their benevolence too, are guarantees to keep your head above water and go to the end of your approach to truth.