Colorado whistleblower laws were changed during COVID to encourage speaking up. In this case, those same laws are also driving up legal costs.
In the last two years, lawmakers gave public employees more protection to blow the whistle on workplace health and safety concerns.
But a case that started during COVID has revealed that workers who speak up may be protected up to a point.
"I was able to identify and then try to correct fiscal mismanagement in the HIV/STI program," Dr. Tony Cappello, former Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) Director of Disease Control and Health Response, said.
Cappello was put on administrative leave and fired in 2020, after blowing the whistle on federal grant money he said was being misspent by CDPHE.
"There was a lot of money, millions of dollars, not being properly tracked, properly managed," Cappello said.
He said Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program federal grant money was being spent on prevention and PrEP, the medicine that helps prevent someone from getting HIV.
"PrEP is used to prevent HIV, so it would be used on people who do not have an HIV diagnosis," Cappello said.
Spending the money properly would be on people who have an HIV diagnosis, not preventing an HIV diagnosis.
He sued under the state's Employee Protection Act.
In July 2021, there was a week-long hearing to determine if the case could continue.
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