Whistleblower Protection Act
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It was not until 1986 when a law protecting whistleblowers is made. Congress added an anti-retaliation protection to the then existing False Claims Act.
A whistleblower is a person who tells on something he believes is an illegal act. The employees are the most commonly known whistleblower. They tell on their employers which they suspect is doing or committing an illegal act.
Under the Whistleblower Protection Law, the employee should not be discharged, denoted, suspended, threatened or harassed in any form that discriminates the terms and conditions of his employment because of the legal act done by the employee.
The employee may be of aid in many ways possible on the investigation, testimony and the likes. However there are some constraints under the whistleblower protection law.
Reporting illegal acts that are only within the company is a ground for exemption. But still there may be public policies that could protect the employee from retaliation
If it turns out that an employer didn’t actually break a law, the employee is still entitled to whistle blower protection from retaliation, if he reasonably believed that the employer committed an illegal act.
The whistleblower protection law does not cover employer retaliation for complaints about personal loathe. Office politics is not to be used as a basis for filing a complaint against the employer and use the whistleblower protection for personal gain.
In order for the employee to be protected from employer retaliation, he may the have a suspected desecration of any Federal Law. But the supposed violation should have provisions that the law violated will protect whistleblowers.
The Whistleblower Federal Law, unlike the False Claims Act, allows the whistleblower to file a lawsuit in a federal court. The Federal Whistleblower Law does not permit the whistleblower to go directly to the court.
The individuals concerned are pursued administratively. These individuals concerned could file a complaint or charge to retaliate with or without a lawyer to represent them. However if the case is not resolved immediately, the administrative law judge may then preside over the only evidentiary hearing that may take place.
A whistleblower should not attempt to delay an investigation of the possible legal remedy. To maintain this ruling, the retaliation should then be brought to the attention of an appropriate government official within 30 days, else the complaint could not be pursued.
Most states have some sort of statutory or common law “whistleblower” or anti-retaliation laws. Like the federal whistleblower laws, not every lawyer will know about these laws, especially laws outside their own state.
These states and the District of Columbia have recognized a public policy exception to the “employment at will doctrine”: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Some states have explicit statutory protections for whistleblowers. These include: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington.
There are also state laws that offer special protections just for their own state or local government employees: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
About the Author
James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of WhistleblowerBuzz.com and writes expert articles about whistleblowers.
The 19th of September, 2006 at 9:49 am
My employer has violated my employee contract and violated 3 of my Us emplyee rights and now he is threatning to fire me if I ask for the money and if I go to the Labor commission.
What should I do ?
The 14th of October, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Go to the labor commission, they will take care of it and will also protect your job. Your boss most certainly won’t fire you because he’ll know the consequences if he does.
The 24th of October, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I have worked at the city of norfolk (VA) Animal Control center for three years, continuously reporting serious neglect/mistreatment/ of animals and even state code violations regarding pounds. I was continuosly ignored (by mgmt, human resources,city manager, internal affairs) and finally the last few months, circumstanses escalated to the worst I ever thought possible. I called the State Vet, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the media, as I could no longer stand by and watch helplessly the criminal and illegal abuse and cruelty of these animals. What immediately followed was a suspension without pay (attacked with completley false and hurtful accusations), harassment, another suspension, and subsequently a transfer and job reclassification (which violated city policy as well as Civil Service Commission Rules). Throughout it all, I took every professional step to resolve such ill treatment (filing a grievance, filing complaints of harassment and retaliation, abuse of authority, etc.) Every official in the city has just completely ignored me and it is clearly obvious that they had hoped I would resign (as they had no grounds to terminate me). I am still trying DESPERATELTY to find an attorney, but $ is the biggest issue (I live paycheck to payckeck, penny to penny. Yet would nevert trade my job for anything. I love animals passionately and learned to live within my means. My financial situation was hurt even more when I was suspended without pay) In addition, many of the attorneys I contacted do not seem to specialize in whistleblowing cases, let alone lawsuits against city agencies. Please tell me I still have hope in getting help. There’s is nothing I want more than my job back and to put an end to the torture and emotional distress of this ordeal. In addition, the stress has also caused me physical problems such as headaches, depression, nausea, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, dizziness, fatigue,etc. Aside from the most obvious case of retaliation, aren’t there even general employment laws to protect me from having done the right thing?!
The 12th of December, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I recently notified my immediate supervisor of financial fraud I discovered of my counterpart who went on maternity leave. He got mad at me and made references that it is none of my business and how dare I have the information that I had. It is a strong suspicion and there is some preliminary proof that what I am telling him is accurate. So after being told basically I’m lucky he’s putting up with me, I went to his supervisor who is also my supervisor and had to email her because she is out until Monday. Nothing else has happened but i will be uncomfortable for me the next couple of days since I have to be alone with him a short amount of time in the mornings. He makes me uncomfortable anyway because he yells at me for looking for work to do? Figure that one out don’t know if he’s hiding something or what. Anyway, I was asking because what do I do, where do I draw the line. If he asks questions about it and asks for proof when do I walk out and to the HR department? If he calls me names or gets loud? Is there precedence? She was his favorite and I’m treated like I have no business knowing anything about anything anyway so how do I know what is breaking the law in this case? Sorry I know it should be obvious to me but I need advice, I am young and this is the first time I’ve had to do this.
The 31st of January, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I have reported testing violations. I was retaliated against at the school site where the violations took place. When I transfered my new principal was told what I did by another principal who was a friend of the principal whose school had the testing violations.
My situation has really gotten bad.
The 31st of January, 2008 at 6:23 pm
The students who suffered testing violations were special education students.
The 4th of April, 2008 at 1:10 pm
My situation is that I am in a contract which seems to be pretty much bogus and misleading thats one thing but here is another, I am supposed to get paid for training new drivers such pay I never got, also get paid for breakdowns when the truck is out of service, for three days of breakdown I never got paid, money was taken out of my payroll to pay overweight tickets twice that the company should have paid, for a total of
$615.00. we are having a meeting on 4/19/08 and I’m speculating that it’s about the contract and them manipulating our escrow money and trying to convert us to company drivers. Their are approx. 17 drivers that are independent contractors, some of us have put in thousand of dollars in these trucks, I believe this is a whistleblower. HELP US SOMEONE!!!!!
The 30th of May, 2008 at 1:05 pm
In 2005, I was wrongfully terminated for filing a racial and unequal pay practice discrimination Complaint with EEOC in 2001 (because I was an ideal employee, the resignation of a supervisor was the first opportunity for retaliation). EEOC failed to justify dismissing my Complaint without investigation; I was issued a Right to Sue Letter.
My former employer falisified inadequate reduction-in-force documents (generated after my termination to respond to EEOC Complaint) that consisted on a proposed reduction-in-force (due to lack of funding) that was unsigned and on plain paper and did not correspond to my termination letter. I submitted evidence that at time of my termination the State budget was being publicized with a recommended increase in funding. Subsequent to my termination, the Defendant received the increase.
The increase in the state budget was publicized on the internet and Defendant’s website.
Due to time constraints, the lawsuit was filed pro se. Although, I had some problem dealing with Defendant’s attorney unresponsiveness, everything was moving along. I knew I had a solid case supported by substantial evidence.
Defendant’s documents are verifiably inconsistent fabrications.
Two months before jury selection and projected trial date (12/1/2006), the magistrate judge entered into a conspiracy with the defendant’s attorney and inappropriately used summary judgment to dismiss my case. My pertinent evidence was either misrepresented or suppressed and defendant’s inconsistent fabricated documents were supressed. Without applying law to facts or Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c), defendant was granted summary judgment and although I had filed a cross motion for summary judgment, my motion was denied without being addressed and my case was dismissed with any justification.
The Court of Appeals covered up the District Court indiscretion and without reason or law “Affirmed.” I’m now is the process of preparing a Writ of Certiorari for the U.S. Supreme Court.
My Question is, “Who’s going to protect “Title VII Retaliation victims” from discrimination in the judicial system.