Dr Bruno Seigle-Murandi wins whistleblower penalisation claim

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Dr Bruno Seigle-Murandi was awarded €8,000 by the Workplace Relations Commission for penalisation after making a protected disclosure, in a decision reported on 16 November 2023.

The adjudicator found that Roche’s use of his July 2020 communication to the medicines regulator in his performance review contributed to a reduced bonus. The protected disclosure was a factor in the poor rating, making the bonus cut an act of penalisation.

The WRC rejected his separate unfair dismissal complaint. Adjudicator David James Murphy questioned how serious the breach was, noting that there was no question of Roche intellectual property being sent to a competitor or for personal benefit and that the documents mostly concerned Dr Seigle-Murandi’s grievances and penalisation claims. However, he found that Dr Seigle-Murandi’s refusal to delete the emails or say who had access to them placed the dismissal within the band of reasonableness.