Lawyer Monthly Magazine - September 2021 Edition

SEP 2021 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM that make it powerful. First, employees do not have to complain to a governmental agency; they can complain to someone at their job who has the authority to address the conduct in question. Second, employees do not have to prove that a violation of the law actually occurred; so long as the employee had a reasonable belief that there was a violation, protection is provided. Finally, employees are protected not just for complaining, but for refusing to participate in illegal conduct. The second source of protection is To give a basic definition, what is whistleblowing? Generally speaking, whistleblowing is the act of disclosing an improper act to someone who has the ability to do something about it. In the parlance of whistleblower statutes, complaining is referred to as “engaging in a protected activity”, which essentially means an employee has observed a specific type of activity (usually an illegal or improper act or failure to comply with the law) and then complained about it. In most employment whistleblower cases, employees are typically required to show retaliation in the form of an “adverse employment action”, which means they have been demoted, fired, or suffered some tangible loss. What laws exist on the state and federal level to protect whistleblowers in California? There are numerous federal and state statutes providing whistleblower protection to individuals and employees. Most of these statutes apply to very specific industries or practices. For example, at the federal level, individuals who complain of bank, wire or mail fraud at a publicly traded company might seek protection under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or the Anti-Money Laundering Act, while employees who complain about fraud MY LEGAL LIFE - JAMES URBANIC Representing the Rights of Whistleblowers Speaking with established trial attorney James Urbanic, we explore the statutes that protect whistleblowers in California and the wider United States. He shares his experience in protecting employees from retaliation for complaining of harassment or discrimination in the workplace and offers his insight on how jurors’ attitudes towards whistleblowing have shifted. “ As of January 2021, California Labor Code Section 1102.5 was amended to allow a court to award attorneys’ fees to prevailing employees. ” against the government might turn to the False Claims Act. California itself has approximately fourteen whistleblower statutes, and most cover specific areas of commerce. Whistleblower laws cover the airline, environmental, financial, health insurance, nuclear and public transportation industries. Whistleblower statutes can be difficult to navigate. The Federal government has attempted to simplify the enforcement of some federal whistleblower statutes by giving enforcement power to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), which enforces more than twenty whistleblower statutes alone. However, each statute has its own set of reporting procedures and remedies. Some statutes create a private right of action, allowing the complainant to file a lawsuit, while others merely offer administrative remedies not particularly designed to make a Plaintiff whole. In California there are two sources of protection that offer broad protection regardless of the industry and practice. Equally important, both allow employees to seek a full range of damages in court. The first is California’s Labor Code Section 1102.5. This statute protects employees who have disclosed violations of federal, state, or local statutes or regulations. There are three provisions in this statute 23