Whistleblower Hotline

The Whistleblower Hotline is a service designed to enable the reporting of serious wrongdoing within an organisation. The Whistleblower Hotline is independently operated by the EMA for its Members who sign up for the service. The service provides a confidential and secure way for employees, consultants and contractors to report serious wrongdoing in the workplace.

Reports of serious wrongdoing can be made via phone to EMA who will capture the details of the protected disclosure and relay the information to your designated contacts within two working days.

 The service is available Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, excluding weekends, public holidays, and EMA close-down periods.

Access for your employees, secondees, contractors, volunteers and people involved in the management of the organisation to the Whistleblower Hotline. The EMA will capture the protected disclosure on your behalf and provide a summary report back to you within two working days.

• Up to ten calls per year included in the base subscription
• Onboarding pack including:
  • Whistleblower Policy template (valued at $450)
  • Welcome video & key information
  • Info sheet/poster to make your employees aware of the service and how to use it
  • FAQs about whistleblowing to share with your employees

Serious wrongdoing includes one or more of the following:

• an offence or serious risk to:
  • public health
  • public safety
  • the health or safety of any individual, or the environment
• A serious risk to the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation and detection of offences and the right to a fair trial
• An unlawful, corrupt or irregular use of public funds or public resources
• Oppressive, unlawfully discriminatory, or grossly negligent conduct or gross mismanagement by:
  • a public sector employee, or
  • a person performing a function or duty or exercising a power on behalf of a public sector organisation (the government).

 Signing up for the Whistleblower Hotline offers several benefits:

• Independent Reporting Channel: The service provides an independent and confidential channel for reporting serious concerns, ensuring that reports are captured impartially.
• Expert Handling of Protected Disclosures: The Whistleblower Hotline team is trained to document and relay protected disclosures effectively, ensuring that all necessary information is captured and forwarded to the appropriate contacts within the organisation.
• Protection for Whistleblowers: A legally robust and compliant process for managing whistleblowing and protected disclosures
• Support for Organisational Integrity: By facilitating the reporting of serious wrongdoing, the service helps organisations maintain integrity and prevent fraud, illegal activities, and gross mismanagement.
• Resource Efficiency: The service allows organisations to leverage the EMA’s expertise and resources, reducing the burden on internal staff and ensuring that reports are captured effectively.

• We offer competitive rates.

• Expert Handling: Our team are able to carefully handle disclosures and collate information, so you have relevant information for appropriate action.

• Support for Investigations: We offer access to our legal and consulting teams for further assistance, available at competitive rates.

• Establishment Fee: $1,000 + GST, which includes policy setup and onboarding
• Annual Subscription: $2,000 + GST for up to ten whistleblowing disclosures per year. Additional disclosures are charged at $400 + GST each

1. Review the Whistleblower Hotline FAQ’s and assess if it is the right service for your business
2. Complete the online form to subscribe to the service (you will need to provide key information such as the two contact names & emails of the people in your organisation who are to receive the protected disclosures from the EMA.
3. Sign the Terms of Engagement and pay the annual fee for the service and the one-off establishment fee.
4. You will then receive the onboarding pack including your Whistleblower policy template ready for you to communicate to your business.
5. If you would like support from our legal team to roll out this service in your business, you can contact us at legal@ema.co.nz 
6. We will set up your account in our system ready to receive protected disclosures, we will document, and relay protected disclosures to your designated contacts within two working days.

Once you receive the protected disclosure from the EMA you will take sole responsibility to comply with any legislative requirements, including (but not limited to) those under section 13 of the Act in relation to Receivers following the receipt of the report by the EMA.

The Whistleblower Hotline team are not able to provide advice, recommendations or undertake the investigation.

The service can’t take disclosures about intelligence and security information or international relations information. Should we receive a disclosure of this nature we will refer it to the appropriate authority under the Act.

The Whistleblower Hotline is not to be used for the reporting of employment relationship problems, for example, personal grievances, decisions about employment such as salary increases. Employees are referred to the “Employment Relationship Problem” clause in their employment agreements for raising such concerns.

Employees are encouraged to report such allegations internally first, but the hotline is available for those who prefer to report externally.