Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this employment discrimination/personal injury case and its proceedings.)
Kaiser also contends that because reporting unsafe and unlawful conditions was part of Plaintiff’s job, she is precluded from raising a wrongful termination claim or Labor Code section 1102. In its desperation, Kaiser turns to federal cases around the country, including an ill considered opinion from the Eastern District of California, lacking any authority to cite to a single California case supporting the outrageous position that it can fire someone for reporting Kaiser wrongdoing. Kaiser’s argument is not only flatly wrong, it is undermined by Garcetti v. Cebellos (2006) 547 U.S. 410, 126 S. Ct.1951, in which the Court held that Labor Code violations remain actionable even to those whose job encompasses the reporting so that employees who seek to expose wrongdoing are still protected.
Exposing governmental inefficiency and misconduct is a matter of considerable significance. As the Court noted in Connick, public employers should, as a matter of good judgment, be receptive to constructive criticism offered by their employees. 461 U.S., at 149, 103 S.Ct. 1684. The dictates of sound judgment are reinforced by the powerful network of legislative enactments-such as whistle-blower protection laws and labor codes-available to those who seek to expose wrongdoing. See, e.g., 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8); Cal. Govt.Code Ann. § 8547.8 (West 2005); Cal. Lab.Code Ann. § 1102.5 (West Supp.2006)
These imperatives, as well as obligations arising from any other applicable constitutional provisions and mandates of the criminal and civil laws, protect employees and provide checks on supervisors who would order unlawful or otherwise inappropriate actions.
547 U.S. at 425-426. This statement makes it clear that United States Supreme Court has no intention of extending any limitation of employees’ claims to legislation such as the Cal. Lab.Code or wrongful termination claims based on that legislation simply because they had a job in which reporting was part of the job. (See Part 9 of 11.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.