Categories: Retail

By David Jacobs and Amy B. Messigian

We would like to call your attention to a significant change to the whistleblower statute in California that went into effect on January 1.  The statute, Cal. Lab. Code section 1102.5, has been substantially expanded beyond its prior form to now protect employees from retaliation for making internal complaints or even potential complaints about suspected violations of federal, state or local law.

California previously protected employees from retaliation for reporting reasonably suspected violations of state or federal laws to a government agency. The new law also extends whistleblower protections to employees who report behavior that they reasonably believe to be illegal to a supervisor or other employee with authority to “investigate, discover or correct,” or to a “public body conducting an investigation, hearing or inquiry.”   The new law also expands these protections to cover complaints about local laws.  Thus, it is possible that a complaint relating to the purported violation of an obscure ordinance could give rise to protection under the amended statute.

Therefore, under the new law any complaint made to human resources that relates to purportedly unlawful conduct may result in the protection of California’s whistleblower statute.  Moreover, these protections will apply regardless of whether the employee is required as a function of his or her job to disclose purported illegal activity.

Also of concern, under the revised provisions of Labor Code section 1102.5, it is unlawful for any person acting on behalf of the employer to retaliate against the employee based on a belief “the employee disclosed or may disclose” the information, either internally or to a government agency.  In effect, the revamped law protects employees who have not yet even complained against “anticipatory retaliation.”

Due to the expansive scope of the new provisions, it is possible that the changes in the law may lead to an increase in whistleblower claims and claims under the Private Attorney General Act brought on behalf of the public welfare.  As violations of Labor Code section 1102.5 may subject an employer to a variety of damages, including civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, California employers should consider training their supervisors and human resources personnel on the expansion of the new law in order to prevent against unwitting violations or becoming a test case on the scope of these new provisions. Particularly, supervisors should be reminded to document performance issues as they occur to avoid someone turning into a “whistleblower” to forestall disciplinary action.

Back to Workforce Bulletin Blog

Search This Blog

Blog Editors

Related Services

Topics

Archives

Jump to Page

Subscribe

Sign up to receive an email notification when new Workforce Bulletin posts are published:

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.