The Whistleblower Protection Unit has ruled that an employee of the Children's Ombudsperson's Office was fired in retaliation for whistleblowing.
The ruling issued on Thursday declared that the employee was falsely accused of inappropriate behaviour after reporting issues at the Children's Ombudsperson's Office to the Whistleblower Protection Unit and the parliament’s Human Rights and Gender Committee.
The Children's Ombudsperson's Office tried to portray the dismissal of the employee as connected to misconduct and disobeying office instructions.
The dismissed employee received less than 70 percent marks in the appraisal. However, the whistleblower passed all four appraisals made from 2020 to 2024 with scores above 70 percent.
The Whistleblower Protection Unit noted that the documents did not indicate a performance issue or a disciplinary issue.
An investigation found that the terminated employee’s appraisal was signed by the former supervisor and it was signed after the supervisor had resigned from the post.
The Whistleblower Protection Unit has informed the employee that they can go to court to seek compensation.
Earlier in April, the Whistleblower Protection Unit reached a similar decision and ruled that a whistleblower was unfairly dismissed from the Maldives Post Limited (MPL).
The Whistleblower Protection Unit, which came into existence six years ago in 2019, has the power to impose fines not exceeding MVR 1 million for non-compliance with an order.
