Protecting the Whistleblower

July 12, 2012 (Press-News.org) In a high profile case, Japanese camera maker Olympus recently settled a whistleblower claim brought in British employment court by its former CEO Michael Woodford, its first foreign CEO, for his wrongful dismissal from the company. Woodford, who lives in England, was abruptly fired in October 2011 by Olympus a couple of weeks into his tenure after he raised questions about corruption in the company.

In June 2012, the corporate board approved a settlement worth more than $15 million. Woodford's whistle blowing ultimately exposed $1.7 billion in accounting irregularities that severely damaged the company's reputation and stability.

Employees who reveal illegal behavior by their employers are also protected in the United States under federal and state whistleblower laws. Basically, when an employee reports company wrongdoing to governmental authorities, whistleblower laws protect him or her from employer retaliation like that suffered by Woodford when he was illegally terminated for questioning fraud at Olympus.

Illegal whistleblower retaliation by employers is generally viewed broadly. For example, it not only would cover wrongful firing, but also usually other harmful employer actions, like giving undeservedly bad professional references, failing to promote, demoting, creating poor working conditions, reducing pay or benefits, harassing and more.

Federal Whistleblower Laws

Federal law protects several different kinds of whistleblowers. Mainly, employee whistleblowers have federal protections or remedies for employer retaliation when employees report to authorities illegal employer actions that affect the public interest such as accounting, tax, securities and other types of financial fraud; health care fraud; government-contract fraud; environmental or safety violations concerning water, air, garbage, nuclear energy, hazardous chemicals and more; failure to observe transportation safety laws in industries like aviation or trucking; and more.

Some federal whistleblower laws may actually provide monetary rewards to whistleblowers in certain situations.

State Whistleblower Laws

State laws may go even further than their federal counterparts. In California, for example, whistleblower laws also protect employees from retaliation for internally reporting violations of law to company management. California also protects workers who will not follow employer directions to engage in illegal behaviors.

Qui Tam

Both federal and California qui tam laws (also called false claims acts) allow an employee of a company that does business with the government to bring a lawsuit alleging that the company used false information for financial or proprietary gain at the expense of the government. Both the whistleblower and the governmental entity involved may be awarded damages in the suit.

Whistleblower law is an extremely complicated area of the law. If you are considering blowing the whistle on your employer's questionable behavior, or if you have already done so and fear retaliation, contact an experienced employment lawyer for advice on your legal rights and potential remedies.

Article provided by The Rubin Law Corporation
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