Distinguishing Chicken Little from Bona Fide Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers are important for holding companies accountable, but they should be protected from retaliation. Florida has a law to protect whistleblowers, and there are also federal laws. This article compares the different laws and suggests some changes that could be made. The Florida Whistleblower’s Act protects private employees who report their employer for breaking the law, and public employees who report any actions that could harm the public’s health, safety or welfare. Private employees have to prove their employer actually broke the law, while public employees can make a claim even if they just suspect something is wrong. The Florida Whistleblower’s Act protects public and private employees who report illegal or unethical activities at work. Public employees have more protection than private employees. Public employees can report in any written form, while private employees must submit a sworn notice. The Act also allows public employees to report to their supervisor, but private employees must give their employer a chance to fix the problem before reporting it to an agency. The First Amendment provides less protection for public employees than the Whistleblower Protection Act. It requires employees to prove that their speech addresses a matter of public concern and balances their free speech rights against the government’s interest in an efficient workplace. The Supreme Court has also held that public employees can be disciplined for statements made as part of their official duties. Ceballos raised concerns about a case at work, but his bosses went ahead with it and won. He later claimed he faced retaliation. The court said his memo was part of his job and not protected by the First Amendment. This is similar to federal laws that protect whistleblowers, which only cover certain types of disclosures and require the employee to have a reasonable belief in them. Critics say these laws don’t protect enough whistleblowers. But state laws can go too far and protect employees even if they didn’t do a proper investigation or were involved in wrongdoing. Balancing these issues is important when it comes to protecting whistleblowers. Florida should update its whistleblower protection laws to require employees to follow clear reporting procedures before taking legal action. This will give the employer a chance to fix the problem. It should also only protect disclosures that are serious and reported to the right people. Current laws have too many differences between state and federal protections. To prove retaliation under Florida law, a person must show they were punished for reporting something illegal or against public policy. They also need to show that the reason given for the punishment was not true. This applies to both private and public sector jobs. In Florida, an employee has to report a problem in writing to their supervisor or employer to be protected by whistleblower laws. Reporting verbally or to someone else probably won’t count. And the employer has to have a chance to fix the problem before the employee can claim protection. If the employee is retaliated against for reporting the problem, the burden is on the employer to show a legitimate reason for taking action. In these cases, the courts ruled that employees can be fired for things they say even if it’s outside of work, and that some types of whistleblowing (reporting misconduct) are protected by law while others are not. Certain laws protect employees who report violations of the law, rules, or regulations. These laws cover employees of the FBI, civilian employees of the armed forces, Coast Guard employees, and military personnel. Some laws also protect both public and private employees, such as the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act and the Clean Air Act. To be protected, the employee must reasonably believe that a violation has occurred or may occur. However, the laws do not protect disclosures of minor or trivial issues, only genuine violations of the law. Employees of the armed forces and certain other companies are protected from retaliation for reporting violations of laws or regulations. To prove retaliation, the employee must show they engaged in a protected activity, the employer knew about it, the employer took some adverse action, and there is evidence that the protected activity was likely the reason for the adverse action. The law also protects employees of publicly traded subsidiaries and covers certain types of fraud. The employee must genuinely believe the employer was violating the law, and the belief must be reasonable. Whether a complaint is considered protected can depend on the significance of the alleged violation. The Supreme Court has had different opinions about whether government employees are protected when they speak out about problems at work. Some justices think they should be protected if they expose dishonesty, illegal actions, or threats to health and safety. Others think they can only be protected if they are the first to report a problem, and if their employer punishes them just for doing something wrong, then they can’t sue. One justice also worries that the decision could hurt academic freedom in higher education. These are court cases where people claimed their rights were violated, like a teacher who said her contract wasn’t renewed because she questioned cheerleading tryouts. The court said these claims didn’t hold up because the people were just doing their jobs or their complaints were not protected by the law. It also mentions laws that say who can get their legal fees paid if they win in court. The author is a lawyer who used to work for the Florida Department of Education and Office of the Governor.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/distinguishing-chicken-little-from-bona-fide-whistleblowers/