Georgia Democratic lawmakers are pushing for legislation they believe would help protect employees who have reported workplace harassment from retaliation at the hands of their employers.
House Bill 1389, titled the “Georgia Safe Workplaces Act,” was filed Thursday morning by Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Cobb County. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Democrat Bee Nguyen, is similar to House Bill 549 proposed under the same working title. If passed, the legislation would provide legal protections for whistleblowers who fear or are facing retaliation in the workplace.
The bill would cement into the Georgia code the whistleblower’s right to file a lawsuit against their employer. Anulewicz said that would create a more navigable path for a complainant to file litigation in cases of harassment and retaliation.
“The way that the law works, if ‘x’ happens to you, then you can do ‘y,’ but there are a lot of variations that can impact that process of litigation,” Anulewicz said. “When you have something codified in Georgia code, it brings uniformity to the process.”
The proposed legislation comes just a few weeks after a Gwinnett County police department found itself embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal that cost its chief and a member of its command staff their jobs. An internal investigation of the Lawrenceville Police Department revealed a climate of sexual harassment and hostility that had persisted for years.
Lawrenceville police Chief Timothy Wallis resigned shortly after the...
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