Employee Right - Whistle blowing

Whistleblower statue prohibits an employer from taking any retaliatory action against an employee who objects to, refuses to participate in, or discloses any activity that is illegal and breaks the law of the state.

The employer cannot discharge, demote, suspend, or harass the employee as a retaliatory action. The whistle blower provisions may allow the employee to file a charge with a government agency, sue the employer, or both.

What does the law say?

The Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted to achieve safer and more healthful workplaces throughout the nation. The Act provides for a wide range of substantive and procedural rights for employees and representatives of employees.

To help ensure that employees are, in fact, free to participation in safety and health activities, Section 11(c) of the Act prohibits any person from discharging or in any manner discriminating against any employee because the employee has exercised rights under the Act.

These rights include complaining to OSHA and seeking an OSHA inspection, participating in an OSHA inspection, and participating or testifying in any proceeding related to an OSHA inspection.

"Discrimination" can include the following actions:

• Firing or laying off
• Assigning to undesirable shifts
• Blacklisting
• Demoting
• Denying overtime or promotion
• Disciplining
• Denial of benefits
• Failure to hire or rehire
• Intimidation
• Transferring
• Reassigning work
• Reducing pay or hours

OSHA also administers the whistleblowing provisions of thirteen other statutes, protecting employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, and securities laws.