Two bills increasing protections for workers who file misconduct complaints against their employers and increasing penalties for employment law violations are advancing in Delaware's General Assembly.
Delaware employers can – and, according to state Sen. Laura Sturgeon, regularly do – sue or pursue charges against employees who use the company’s electronic records as evidence in a misconduct complaint.
Sturgeon says the Delaware computer crimes law that makes those forms of retaliation possible can be enough to dissuade employees from documenting or reporting their employer’s wrongdoing.
“Not only will their claim get thrown out because some of their evidence is from electronic records," she said, "but they could end up being countersued for more [than the damages they claim in their original lawsuit].”
At the beginning of June, Sturgeon introduced legislation that would amend the computer crimes law to make an exception for whistleblowers — a proposal the Senate passed unanimously on Thursday.
Sturgeon is also the sponsor of a bill that would raise the caps on the punitive and compensatory damages a court can impose on employers who violate workplace protections.
Delaware relies on a 1991 federal civil rights law to set caps on court penalties for employers who violate workplace protections. For an employer with more than 500 employees, the penalty can’t exceed $300,000, even if a jury determines a higher penalty is necessary.
State Sen. Laura Sturgeon argues the caps...
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