In order for California workers to feel safe about exposing wrongdoing they might see during their employment, there are whistleblower protections in place. These laws are in place so an employee who is compelled to report illegal workplace discrimination, denial of benefits, harassment, illegal behavior and more will be shielded with protection for retaliation from the employer or the company.
Unfortunately, some employers and companies do not take kindly to an employee reporting activities and behaviors they would prefer to have kept in house or simply ignored. This is when workers need to have legal help if they have been retaliated against or fear they will be retaliated against for whistleblowing. An employee who would like to report something that is wrong at the person’s job should never be in fear of retaliation. However, that is just how some jobs imply that certain activities should be kept quiet — by threatening the loss of employment to workers who would otherwise report what is happening.
There are numerous methods that can be used to retaliate against whistleblowers from demotions, to failure to promote, to transfers and outright firings. This type of behavior can occur in both the public and private sector. Regardless of whether it is a case in which the federal government, a state government or a local municipality are involved or if it is a privately held business large or small, one of the most important calls a person can make when there are overtures of retaliation are in the air is to a lawyer.
A person who chooses to be honest and tell what the person has seen at the workplace should never be worried about the future and being retaliated against. Making sure to protect one’s employee rights as a whistleblower is imperative before and after the report of unlawful activity has been made. That is the first call that a whistleblower or potential whistleblower should make.