Serious Misconduct Disclosure and Whistleblower Protection Policy
Serious Misconduct Disclosure and Whistleblower Protection Policy
Anonymous Misconduct Hotline: 1800 647 266
Policy
BMD is committed to encouraging and supporting ethical and responsible behaviour. BMD recognises the important role whistleblowing can play in the early detection of Serious Misconduct (as defined below), and also recognises that individuals who are considering disclosing alleged Serious Misconduct may fear retribution or other detriment and require an assurance of protection. The following principles apply to this Policy:
- BMD encourages disclosure of actual or suspected Serious Misconduct;
- BMD does not tolerate victimisation of those who come forward to disclose actual or suspected Serious Misconduct. Any victimisation of, or retaliation against, any person for providing information or otherwise assisting in an investigation of a suspected violation may result in disciplinary action including, but not limited to, termination of employment or engagement.
- BMD will support and protect Whistleblowers who act honestly, reasonably and with a genuine belief about actual or suspected Serious Misconduct from retribution or other detriment that stems from making a Disclosure with regards to alleged Serious Misconduct. However, BMD is not able to extend the full level of protections and support set out in this Policy to Whistleblowers who are not employed by BMD.
- BMD will conduct investigations into alleged Serious Misconduct in an objective, independent and confidential manner. Appropriate corrective action will be taken as warranted by the results of the investigation.
- BMD will not take any action against a Whistleblower where a disclosure regarding alleged Serious Misconduct is unable to be substantiated or is found to be untrue, provided the disclosure was made with an honest, genuine or reasonable belief regarding the conduct alleged.
- BMD may pursue legal or disciplinary action against a Whistleblower acting with malicious intent or who knowingly provides any part of a false disclosure. In such circumstances, BMD may not extend protection to, or indemnify, a Whistleblower against retribution or other detriment (including civil actions).
- BMD will not prevent (whether through a confidentiality agreement or otherwise) a prospective, current or former employee of BMD from making a disclosure of alleged Serious Misconduct to a regulator, the police or legal counsel.
Purpose
The purpose of this Policy is to encourage and support Disclosure regarding actual or suspected Serious Misconduct and to protect Whistleblowers who disclose alleged Serious Misconduct from any adverse consequences, victimisation, retribution or other detriment that may arise as a result of their Disclosure.
Scope
Who does this Policy apply to?
- This Policy applies to anyone with a connection to BMD. This includes BMD directors, officers, employees, contractors, consultants, suppliers, joint venture partners, third party providers, secondees, advisors, former employees of BMD, and includes relatives and dependents of any such persons.
- For ease of reference, the term ‘BMD’ is used throughout this policy to reference the BMD Group and its subsidiaries including BMD Constructions, BMD Urban, Empower, JMac Constructions and Urbex and their related bodies corporate within the meaning of that term in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act).
- The Policy protects Whistleblowers who act honestly, reasonably, and with genuine belief when disclosing alleged Serious Misconduct. Genuine Whistleblowers will not be terminated, demoted or suspended (if employed or engaged by BMD) or be threatened, harassed, discriminated against, or suffer any detriment in relation to the Disclosure.
- The identity of Whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous will be omitted from all reports relating to the disclosure of alleged Serious Misconduct and will remain confidential.
What is Serious Misconduct?
Serious Misconduct is the actual or suspected misconduct of any individual or entity of BMD including, but not limited to, any behaviour that may be construed to be:
- dishonest;
- fraudulent;
- corrupt;
- unethical;
- threatening or violent;
- non-compliant or questionable accounting or auditing practices;
- a serious risk to the health and safety of another person or the environment;
- likely to cause financial or non-financial loss to BMD or be otherwise detrimental to the interests of BMD, including to its reputation;
- contrary to laws, codes of conduct or other regulations (including, but not limited to anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws);
- contrary to other policies and procedures of BMD;
- any other misconduct of a serious nature (including but not limited to gross mismanagement, the creation or condoning of serious and substantial waste, or failure to disclose a related party transaction, etc.);
- any improper state of affairs or circumstances; or
- deliberate concealment of Serious Misconduct mentioned above.
Serious Misconduct could include, but is not limited to, for example:
- stealing BMD’s property;
- intoxication at work;
- receiving undisclosed financial or other “kickbacks” for facilitating BMD’s entry into contracts with suppliers (for example, receiving cash from subcontractors as an inducement to award work or requiring or accepting cash or alcohol to guarantee a subcontractor or supplier’s continued work on site);
- receiving cash payments related to work undertaken on behalf of BMD which has not been disclosed and/or remitted to BMD (for example, the selling of topsoil for cash payments);
- providing financial benefit or benefit-in-kind (including any loan, gift, trip or entertainment, donation or payment, grants, scholarships, subsidies, support, promises of future engagement, tangible and intangible property etc) to a customer, supplier or other business partner or associate, to a government official or any other person in exchange for recommending, purchasing, supplying or administering BMD products or for a commitment to continue to do so;
- providing anything in a manner or on conditions that would have an inappropriate influence on a government official or other person’s action or conduct, or that would create the appearance of doing so;
- taking advantage of information received in the course of employment or engagement by BMD to gain a financial or other advantage personally or for an associate;
- improper use of fuel, purchasing or corporate credit cards; or
- failing to notify and/or attempting to conceal a health, safety or environmental incident, in breach of BMD and legal reporting requirements.
Application
This Policy does not apply to a disclosure of information by a Whistleblower to the extent that the information disclosed concerns:
- a personal work-related grievance of the Whistleblower; or
- a complaint or report of an incident or near-miss for work health and safety purposes (or for work health and safety issues generally, other than as indicated above), where such conduct does not amount to Serious Misconduct.
Personal work-related grievances are dealt with by the Human Resources Standard.
Any Disclosure made in accordance with this Policy must be one relating to alleged Serious Misconduct and must only be used as one of last resort where other procedures have failed or, given the nature of the alleged conduct, are considered inappropriate by the Whistleblower.
Disclosure Procedure
1) Initial Disclosure
- Disclosure of actual or suspected Serious Misconduct must be based on information that is directly known to the Whistleblower. The Whistleblower must have reasonable grounds to suspect the alleged Serious Misconduct has occurred. This does not include rumours of alleged Serious Misconduct, or hearsay.
- If any Disclosure made by a Whistleblower is found to have been made with malicious intent or was knowingly false then the Whistleblower may be the subject of disciplinary action (which could include, for example, termination of their employment or engagement with BMD).
- When making a Disclosure of alleged Serious Misconduct, a Whistleblower is encouraged to provide as much information as possible, including:
- any known details related to the alleged Serious Misconduct (e.g. date, time, location, name of person(s);
- any evidence regarding the subject matter of the Disclosure (e.g. documents or emails);
- names of possible witnesses; and
- any steps that have been taken to disclose the matter elsewhere in an attempt to resolve the concern.
- A Whistleblower should firstly disclose alleged Serious Misconduct to the anonymous Misconduct hotline on 1800 647 266. The Whistleblower’s number will not be recorded by the external independent operator who receives the call.
- At the time of contacting the hotline, the Whistleblower may be asked whether they wish to remain anonymous.
- The anonymity of a Whistleblower may interfere with any subsequent investigation of the matter Disclosed, as BMD or an investigator may be unable to contact the Whistleblower to obtain further information. Additionally, BMD’s ability to provide protection and support will be limited by a Whistle-blower’s anonymity.
- Anonymous Whistleblowers should be prepared to provide specific details and evidence of the matter disclosed at the time the Whistleblower calls the hotline.
- The Whistleblower’s identity will not be disclosed to the person(s) the subject of the matter disclosed without first notifying the Whistleblower, regardless of whether the Whistleblower chooses to remain anonymous or not.
- If the Whistleblower is willing to disclose their identity, the Whistleblowing Contact Officer who reviews the Disclosure will arrange an initial discussion with the Whistleblower about the alleged Serious Misconduct, and may request that the Whistleblower:
- attend a meeting or an interview to discuss the allegations with them;
- set out the details of the alleged Serious Misconduct in writing; and/ or
- provide any evidence the Whistleblower might have supporting the relevant allegations.
2) Appointment and Role of Investigator
- Following receipt from a Whistleblower of:
- any information or verbal disclosure;
- details of the conduct in writing (if requested); or
- any other evidence or information requested from them,
whichever is later, the Whistleblowing Contact Officer may (where appropriate) appoint an Investigator to conduct an investigation of the matter disclosed.
- If an Investigator is appointed to investigate a Disclosure:
- The Whistleblower will be informed of the Investigator’s appointment and the Investigator will contact the Whistleblower to acknowledge receipt of the Disclosure and to establish a process, including expected timeframes, for reporting to the Whistleblower on the progress of dealing with the Disclosure.
- The Whistleblower will be contacted by the Investigator, as soon as practicable, to discuss the Whistleblower’s welfare and to discuss a communication process, if required.
- If it is determined that there is insufficient information or evidence to warrant further investigation, the Whistleblower will be informed at the earliest possible opportunity. No further action will be taken.
- Any Disclosures which may implicate a Whistleblowing Contact Officer will be referred directly to the Group Executive Director – Administration, IR and HR. If the relevant Whistleblowing Contact Officer and the Group Executive Director – Administration, IR and HR are both implicated, the matter will be referred to the Group Executive Director – Operations.
- Where a formal investigation is initiated, the investigation will be a confidential, fair, reasonable and independent process, without bias, conducted by the Investigator or their delegate. Investigations will be independent of the business unit in respect of which Disclosure has been made, the Whistleblower’s business unit, or any person who is the subject of the alleged Serious Misconduct.
- The Investigator will investigate the matter within a reasonable period of time after being appointed by the Whistleblowing Contact Officer.
- If the Investigator considers appropriate, the Investigator will inform the Whistleblower of the final outcome of the investigation.
3) Action on Receipt of Findings
- The Whistleblowing Contact Officer may provide the Investigator’s findings to BMD’s Group Executive Director – Operations and/or Managing Director, or BMD’s Board of Directors, at their discretion.
- If the Whistleblowing Contact Officer considers appropriate, the Whistleblowing Contact Officer may communicate to the Whistleblower any findings or conclusions of the Investigator emanating from their investigation, unless the Whistleblower has chosen to remain anonymous.
- Where investigations following a Disclosure substantiate alleged Serious Misconduct, the matter will be dealt with in accordance with established administrative or disciplinary procedures, which may result in disciplinary action, including termination of employment or engagement.
4) Confidentiality
BMD will maintain confidentiality in relation to disclosures of alleged Serious Misconduct under this Policy, subject to any regulatory or legislative requirements or where the alleged Serious Misconduct involves a threat to life or property or may involve, or potentially involve, illegal activity.
5) Training and Access to this Policy
This Policy is available on BMS and on request from Business Systems and is incorporated in our BMD online training program BOLT for our employees and contractors.
Policy Compliance
Reporting/Monitoring
- This Policy sets out the minimum standards required for BMD personnel and related entities.
- If a person who makes a Disclosure considers that their Disclosure has not been dealt with in accordance with this Policy, or that they have been subject to retribution or other detriment as a result of making a Disclosure in accordance with this Policy, the matter should be escalated to the Whistleblowing Contact Officer in the first instance or otherwise to the Group Executive Director – Administration, IR and HR. The Whistleblowing Contact Officer, in consultation with the Group Executive Director – Administration, IR and HR, will determine the most appropriate course for handling the matter, which may include informal resolution options or a formal investigation. The Group Executive Director – Operations will be consulted if and when required.
- Any matters of a criminal nature will be reported by the Whistleblowing Contract Officer, in consultation with the Group Executive Director – Administration, IR and HR, to the police and, if appropriate, other governmental or regulatory authorities.
Non-compliance
BMD personnel who cause, or threaten to cause, detriment to a Whistleblower, or who directly or indirectly cause the identity of a Whistleblower to be made known, may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment or engagement. Such persons may also be found to be civilly or criminal liable.
Related BMD Policies
This Policy should be read in conjunction with the following BMD documents:
- Conflict of Interest Policy;
- Equity Policy;
- Human Resources Standard.
Whistleblower protection
In addition to the protections described in this Policy, Whistleblowers may have the benefit of protections available under legislation in relation to whistleblowing. For example, there are broad whistleblower protection regimes under Commonwealth legislation, including the following:
- Corporations Act 2001;
- Taxation Administration Act 1953;
- Banking Act 1959;
- Insurance Act 1973;
- Life Insurance Act 1995; and
- Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.
Definitions
Disclosure
- The deliberate and voluntary disclosure or attempted disclosure of information that alleges the existence of Serious Misconduct.
BMD personnel
- Directors, officers, employees, contractors, consultants, suppliers, third party providers, secondees, advisers, and former employees of BMD, and includes relatives and dependents of any of those persons.
Serious misconduct
- Actual or suspected illegal, unacceptable or undesirable conduct, as detailed in section 3(b) of this Policy. For clarity, Serious Misconduct can include the conduct of a third party, such as a supplier or service provider to BMD.
Whistleblower
- A person who Discloses (or attempts to Disclose) alleged Serious Misconduct.
Whistleblowing Contact Officer
- The person or persons nominated by BMD from time to time as being responsible for:
- assessing reports from Whistleblowers to determine whether further investigation is appropriate;
- protecting and supporting Whistleblowers from retribution or other detriment that may arise as a result of disclosing alleged Serious Misconduct; and
- providing advice to BMD personnel prior to, during, or after a Disclosure regarding alleged Serious Misconduct is made.