Whistleblower Attorney New York

What Is Whistleblowing?

In most cases, a whistleblower is someone who reports misconduct and corruption based on what they witness inside their organizations. However, a whistleblower doesn’t necessarily have to work for a company or public organization to report corruption. 

A person who reports wrongdoing, abuse, illegal, or unethical activity could be a customer, the general public, or a vendor. Say a company illegally dumps toxic chemicals into the environment. A resident or a group of residents living in the area might become whistleblowers if they gather enough evidence. 

Nonetheless, this group of residents may join forces with an employee inside that organization to gather such evidence. The employee would also become a whistleblower in this scenario. Whistleblowing can come from one individual, a group of employees, or a coalition of stakeholders. A whistleblower attorney in New York may represent the individual or group.  

Common Things Employees Report

Any allegation of abuse, misconduct, unethical, or illegal activity can become the center of a whistleblower case. That said, employees tend to report matters that fall under specific subject areas.

Those subjects are:

• Employee safety violations
• Labor violations, such as unpaid overtime or the absence of lunch breaks
• Public safety via environmental protections, product malfunctions, and food violations
• Financial fraud and reporting issues
• Health insurance violations
• Transportation safety violations

Say a company knows that safety equipment in fleet vehicles is unreliable. Several employees have come forward with reports that the equipment is failing, nearly causing severe accidents. Yet, the employer doesn’t take action and keeps the suspect equipment in place. 

Then, as a result, an actual accident does occur, severely injuring an employee and an innocent member of the public. Even after the accident, the company does not take action to replace the faulty equipment. A few employees report the employer to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) for suspected workplace safety violations. These workers become whistleblowers and provide inside evidence.

What Rights Do Whistleblowers Have?

Federal, state, and municipal laws help protect whistleblowers from retaliation. New York City is an area where all three may apply. Generally speaking, an employer cannot retaliate against an employee for reporting the employer’s unethical or illegal behavior. 

According to the Department of Labor, retaliation consists of one or more of the following:

• Firing or demoting an employee
• Laying a worker off
• Blocking or denying a promotion
• Refusing to pay or allocate overtime
• A reduction in pay or hours

New York’s expanded definition of retaliation includes:

• Exercising actions or making threats of actions that impact a worker’s future or current employment
• Contacting ICE or other U.S. immigration authorities
• Discrimination against an employee because of their report
• Threats to report the worker’s immigration status or the status of the worker’s relatives/household members

As an SEC whistleblower attorney will explain, employer retaliation can be as simple as a bad performance review, which is more suspicious or obvious when the worker had exemplary performance reviews before the whistleblower report. Whistleblower laws protect employees from these types of actions. 

In this case, the employer or supervisor may be using the poor performance review as justification for a future firing, layoff, or demotion. Under whistleblower laws and protection, these activities are illegal. If the employee can show evidence of good performance reviews before the whistleblower report, it can strengthen the case.

The team here at The Howley Law Firm have years of experience in representing whistleblowers. Get in touch with us to see how we can help.

Are There Exceptions?

In most cases, employees making a whistleblower report must also notify a supervisor or their employer. However, under New York law, exceptions to this reporting requirement exist under several different circumstances. 

These are as follows:

• Public health and safety are in immediate or severe danger.
• Reporting the whistleblower activity to a supervisor will reasonably lead to the destruction of evidence.
• Informing a supervisor or H.R. department will reasonably lead to the hiding of illegal or unethical activity.
• Reporting the whistleblower activity may bring physical harm to the worker.
• The worker is under the impression the company or supervisor knows about the illegal or unethical activity and condones it.

However, City of New York employees must file reports with the DOI, a City Council member, a Public Advocate, or a Comptroller. Doing so affords City of New York employees protection under whistleblower laws. 

In addition, many states have at-will employment laws. These laws essentially state that an employee can be let go at any time for any reason or no reason. Whistleblower protection and laws are exceptions to at-will employment. 

This protection is part of what’s known as public policy exceptions. Workers’ compensation laws are an additional example. An employer, for instance, cannot terminate an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim.