California
Labor Code Section 1102.5(b) protects whistleblowers from retaliation by the
employer where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information
discloses a violation of or noncompliance with state or federal
statute/rule/regulation.
In addition, Government
Code Section 12653 reads, in part, “No employer shall discharge, demote,
suspend, threaten, harass, deny promotion to, or in any other manner
discriminate against an employee because of lawful acts in disclosing
information to a government agency.”
The Commission upholds these protections, and it expects the companies it
regulates to abide by the law. As a practical matter, although these laws are
intended to protect whistleblowers, a whistleblower may still face the risk of
retaliation and may have to devote personal time and money to hire an attorney
to litigate matters of alleged retaliation.
A whistleblower is not protected from retaliation if he or she violates the
confidentiality of the lawyer-client privilege. (Labor Code section 1102.5(g).
Therefore, an informant should not disclose information identified as
privileged. In addition, California law does not protect disclosures made by
private sector employees that reveal a trade secret. Whistleblower laws
generally do not protect employees whose criticisms involve matters of personal
rather than public concern.
Finally, a prospective whistleblower should determine if the employer has
established internal procedures to handle whistleblower claims. If so, the
employee should review these procedures to determine how to proceed.