One of the reasons that employers feel comfortable with engaging in retaliation against whistleblowers is that they think they can get away with it.
Whistleblowing is when an employee within a company or organization reports illegal or unsafe conduct to the authorities. In many cases employees discover that their place of work is engaging in violations of anti-discrimination law, committing fraud, or utilizing dangerous and unsafe practices for their employees. Many employees choose to not speak out on these issues as they fear retaliation from their employer, but it is important to know that whistleblowing is a “protected activity”. Retaliation from your employer for whistleblowing is illegal.
Whistleblowers are protected from retaliation for disclosing information that the employee or applicant reasonably believes provides evidence of a violation of any law, rule, regulation, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.
What Are Examples of Retaliation for Whistleblowing?
Retaliation is when an employer takes an adverse action against a whistleblower employee, in spite of the fact that it is a protected activity. Retaliation can even be considered prohibiting or discouraging employees from speaking up about illegal activity before any whistleblowing has actually occurred. Adverse actions can be subtle and they won’t always be easy to recognize or prove. Some common examples of...
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