Workplace whistle-blowers will have new safeguards against retaliation starting Jan. 1st.
Starting in 2014, employees will be protected if they report a workplace violation of a local law, not just a violation of state or federal regulations.
Mariko Yoshihara is with the California Employment Lawyers Association.
“An employer can’t fire someone right before they’re going to make the disclosure or report the violation because that clearly frustrates the purpose of our whistleblower laws, which is to report wrongdoing.”
~Mariko Yoshihara
The new California law covers both private and public employees.
Employees will also be shielded legally if they report wrongdoing to someone within their organization, not just to government authorities. Yoshihara said that's not the case right now.
“For example, if there was a safety violation, a worker would be covered if they reported the violation to OSHA, but if they reported that same violation to say, a manager, they wouldn’t necessarily be protected by retaliation from the employer," said Yoshihara.
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