An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 7 - Recognizing And Preventing Harassment, Discrimination And Retaliation

(b) California Government Code Section 1102.8 – Posting Of “Whistleblower Hotline” Labor Code section 1102.8 requires that employers display a poster listing employees’ rights and responsibilities under the whistleblowing laws. This poster must include the phone number for the whistleblower hotline. For a copy of the California Department of Labor’s sample posting please see Compendium. (c) California Labor Code Section 2698, et seq. - Private Attorney General Act Of 2004 The California Labor Code contains a variety of provisions that allow the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to assess and collect civil penalties from employers found to have violated those provisions. Through Labor Code section 2698, et seq., aggrieved employees can themselves collect, by prevailing in a civil action brought on behalf of themselves or others, the civil penalties that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. 984 The prevailing employees are also entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. 985 (d) False Claims Act Another whistleblower statute is the “False Claims Act.” The federal and state False Claims Acts prohibit the submission of false claims for money, goods or services to a public agency. 986 The acts allow people to initiate actions on behalf of the government against individuals and companies, including private employers, whom they believe have submitted false claims to a governmental entity. The acts include provisions expressly prohibiting employers from retaliating against their employees for initiating or assisting in the investigation of alleged false claims. 987 Employers found to have violated the California False Claims Act can be liable for damages, including double the amount of pay back. The False Claims Act also mandates that the employer pay litigation costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. 988 Wilkins v. St. Louis Housing Authority 989 An employee of the St. Louis Housing Authority reported to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) deficiencies in the Authority’s security operations and its misrepresenting of those deficiencies to HUD. After raising his concerns, the Authority fired him. He sued under the federal False Claims Act. The Court of Appeals upheld a jury award against the Authority. The Court found that the employee’s conduct was protected because he reasonably believed the Authority had acted fraudulently when it misrepresented its security operations to HUD. (e) Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002 Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in response to “corporate scandals.” Essentially, the statute grants whistleblower protection to employees who assist in an investigation of fraud or participate in a proceeding relating to fraud against shareholders. 990

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