179-17 Protected Reports and Protected Reporters

(1) A Protected Report shall be protected provided that it is made to:

• (a) the AIFC Participant concerned;
• (b) an auditor of the AIFC Participant or a member of the audit team;
• (c) a legal adviser in the course of obtaining legal advice;
• (d) a prosecuting authority;
• (e) a law enforcement authority;
• (f) an AIFC Body;
• (g) a regulatory or governmental authority, body or agency in a jurisdiction outside the AIFC (whether in the Republic of Kazakhstan or not), including a body or officeholder responsible for enforcing the criminal law of that jurisdiction; or
• (h) any other Person designated under the Acting Law of the AIFC.

(2) An AIFC Participant that receives a report that purports to be a Protected Report:

• (a) must treat the individual who made the report as a Protected Reporter; and
• (b) must treat the report as a Protected Report; until the AIFC Participant has decided, acting reasonably and on the basis of a proper investigation, that the report is not a Protected Report.

(3) If an AIFC Participant becomes aware that an individual has made a report that purports to be a Protected Report about the AIFC Participant to a Person specified or referred to in subsection (1), then the AIFC Participant must treat the individual as a Protected Reporter until the AIFC Participant establishes, acting reasonably and on the basis of a proper investigation, that the report is not a Protected Report.

(4) If an AIFC Participant proposes, in accordance with subsections (2) or (3), not to treat an individual as a Protected Reporter or a report as a Protected Report, then it must, where possible, provide adequate notice to that individual in order to allow that individual sufficient time to apply to the AIFC Court for an order pursuant to subsection (5) to retain his status as a Protected Reporter and that of the report as a Protected Report.

(5) The AIFC Court may order an AIFC Participant to:

• (a) treat an individual who has made a report as a Protected Reporter; and
• (b) treat that report as a Protected Report.

179-18 Right not to suffer detriment

(1) A Protected Reporter has the right:

• (a) not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, done by:

(i) his Employer;

(ii) another Worker of the Protected Reporter's Employer in the course of that other Worker's employment; or

(iii) an agent of the Protected Reporter's Employer acting with the Employer's authority, on the ground that the Protected Reporter has made a Protected Report; and

• (b) not to be dismissed where the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal is that the Protected Reporter has made a Protected Report.

(2) Where a Protected Reporter is subjected to detriment by anything done as mentioned in subsections (1)(a)(ii) or (iii), that thing is treated as also done by the Worker's Employer and it is immaterial, for the purposes of this subsection (2), whether the thing is done with the knowledge or approval of the Worker's Employer.

(3) A Protected Reporter may present a complaint to the AIFC Court that he has been subjected to a detriment in contravention of subsection (1)(a) or he has been dismissed in contravention of subsection (1)(b).

(4) In proceedings against a Protected Reporter's Employer in respect of anything alleged to have been done as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii), it is a defence for the Employer to show that the Employer took all reasonable steps to prevent the other Worker from doing that thing or from doing anything of that description.

(5) A Worker or agent of a Protected Reporter's Employer is not liable by reason of subsections (1)(a)(ii) or (iii) for an act that subjects the Protected Reporter to detriment if:

• (a) the Worker or agent does that thing in reliance on a statement by the Employer that doing it does not Contravene this section; and
• (b) it is reasonable for the Worker or agent to rely on the statement, but this does not prevent the Employer from being liable by reason of subsection (2).

(6) A Protected Reporter must not be subject to any civil or contractual Liability for making a Protected Report and no contractual, civil or other remedy or right may be enforced against the Protected Reporter by another Person for making the Protected Report or any consequence resulting from the Protected Report.

(7) Contravention of subsection (1) is punishable by a fine.

179-19 Remedies where detriment is suffered

(1) Where the AIFC Court finds a complaint made under section 179-18(3) (Right not to suffer detriment) well-founded, the AIFC Court:

• (a) shall make a declaration to that effect; and
• (b) may make an award of compensation to be paid by the Employer to the complainant in respect of the act or failure to act to which the complaint relates.

(2) The amount of the compensation awarded shall be such as the AIFC Court considers just and equitable in all the circumstances having regard to:

• (a) the infringement to which the complaint relates;
• (b) any loss which is attributable to the act, or failure to act, which infringed the complainant's right; and
• (c) the extent to which the complainant has taken steps reasonably available to him to mitigate the loss referred to in subsection (2)(b).

(3) The loss shall be taken to include:

• (a) any expenses reasonably incurred by the complainant in consequence of the act, or failure to act, to which the complaint relates; and
• (b) loss of any benefit which he might reasonably be expected to have had but for that act or failure to act.

(4) Where the AIFC Court finds that the act, or failure to act, to which the complaint relates was to any extent caused or contributed to by any action of the complainant, it shall reduce the amount of the compensation by such proportion as it considers just and equitable having regard to that finding.