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    Top 10 Things To Remember About Whistleblower Protections

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    Terry Francke
    Pointers for those considering blowing the whistle on fraud, waste or abuse within their business or governmental workplace in California

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    Top 10 Things To Remember About Whistleblower Protections

    Uploaded by

    Terry Francke
    41 views2 pages
    Pointers for those considering blowing the whistle on fraud, waste or abuse within their business or governmental workplace in California

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    Top 10 Things to Remember About Whistleblower Protections

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    Pointers for those considering blowing the whistle on fraud, waste or abuse within their business or governmental workplace in California

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    41 views2 pages

    Top 10 Things To Remember About Whistleblower Protections

    Uploaded by

    Terry Francke
    Pointers for those considering blowing the whistle on fraud, waste or abuse within their business or governmental workplace in California

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Top 10 Points to Consider about

    Whistleblower Risks and Protections


    1. First Steps—Researching the Realities, Consulting with Counsel
    No law can protect you from, at a minimum, the significant personal and career stress
    involved in reporting the negligence or misconduct of your employer, co-workers or
    others to a government authority—or to the press. If time permits, you should do some
    research first, not on the law but on the actual experiences of those who have blown the
    whistle and suffered the consequences. Two thoughtful books are recommended.
    Whistleblowing: When It Works—and Why by Roberta Ann Johnson provides a more positive
    analysis, while Whistleblowng: Broken Lives and Organizational Power by C. Fred Alford is
    decidedly more cautionary.
    The steps below are not offered as legal advice but rather as introductory notes on
    the bewildering variety of California and federal laws available. But there are scores if not
    hundreds of lawyers (several in our attorney directory) specializing in whistleblower
    protection, and you need to consult with one at the outset.

    2. Deciding Your Priorities


    A threshold decision depends on whether your primary motivation is to see that
    improper, illegal or unsafe situations are corrected, or to earn a “bounty hunter” award
    for calling them to the government’s attention.

    3. False Claims Acts


    If your primary motivation is a monetary award, there are both state and federal False
    Claims Acts providing for a share in the recovery of funds dishonestly gained from the
    government, and also several laws dealing with specific abuses. These general monetary
    award procedures, called “qui tam”* actions, allow a private party to sue someone on the
    government’s behalf alleging that he, she or it has cheated a public agency by making a
    false claim for contract or other payment. In either case, eligibility for an award would
    depend on whether the information about the alleged wrongdoing was already publicly
    known—in which case no award could be earned—or was revealed by the whistleblower
    for the first time.

    5. Specific Federal Reward Laws


    Other informant award provisions in federal law include:
    • Internal Revenue Service • Postal Inspection Service
    • Securities and Exchange Commission • FBI
    • Food and Drug Administration • ATF

    Copyright 2019 Californians Aware (916) 949-4944 www.calaware.org




    CalAware’s Top 10 Points to Consider about Whistleblower Risks and Protections

    6. Employee Whistleblowers
    If you are a public or private sector employee concerned with an instance of illegality,
    fraud, waste or abuse by your employer, supervisor or co-workers and are not seeking a
    monetary reward, the California Whistleblower Protection Act provides the broadest and
    strongest protections against retaliation provided by any state.

    7. Public Employee Protections


    State agency, UC and CSU employees reporting waste, fraud, abuse of authority,
    violations of law, or threats to public health: Government Code sections 8547-8547.12.
    Local government employees and applicants reporting gross mismanagement, significant
    waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or
    safety: Government Code section 53296.
    Public school employees alleging government activity that violates a state or federal
    law or regulation or wasteful activity, gross misconduct, incompetency or inefficiency:
    Education Code section 44110 et seq.

    8. Workplace Safety and Health


    California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration protects from retaliation
    private and public sector employees’ complaints of unsafe working conditions—as well as
    their refusal to work in illegally unsafe environments, and nearly two dozen federal laws
    enforced by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration
    protect whistleblowing in a wide variety of work environments.

    9. Health Care Facilities


    California law specifically prohibits licensed health care facilities from retaliating against
    employees or patients who file reports or initiate, participate in, or cooperate in
    government agency investigations and administrative proceedings relating to quality of
    care, services, or conditions at the facility.

    10. Disclosure to the Press


    If your diligent efforts to report apparent wrongdoing to a public official or agency lead
    nowhere, or if doing so internally—up the chain of command—would be futile because
    you would be accusing someone in that chain, or if you fear that you will suffer reprisal if
    exposed despite laws offering protection, your ultimate option would be to take your
    concerns to a newspaper, broadcaster or other news organization or journalist. While
    there are no laws protecting anyone for media leaks per se, California’s Constitution as
    well as its Evidence Code protect journalists from being forced to disclose their
    confidential sources to anyone under subpoena or with a search warrant. If you prefer to
    stay anonymous at least at first even to the journalist(s) you contact, the answer may be a
    digital “strongbox” or similar mechanism if the journalist’s employer offers one.

    * "qui tam pro domino rege quam pro sic ipso in hoc parte sequitur" meaning "he who as well for
    the king as for himself sues in this matter."

    Copyright 2019 Californians Aware (916) 949-4944 www.calaware.org

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