Monthly Newsletter August 2025

Whistleblower Protections for

California Public Employees

This month, we will discuss whistleblower protections for public employees in California. This includes a detailed look at the statutory scheme for whistleblowers found in the Labor Code, as well as the California Labor Commissioner’s model whistleblower notice posting, and two recent legal decisions issued by California appeals courts in July.

The Labor Code: State law provides legal protection for whistleblowers. The Code says:

An employer, or any person acting on behalf of the employer, shall not make, adopt, or enforce any rule, regulation, or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, to a person with authority over the employee, or to another employee who has authority to investigate, discover, or correct the violation or noncompliance, or from providing information to, or testifying before, any public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry, if the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a violation of or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal rule or regulation, regardless of whether disclosing the information is part of the employee’s job duties.

Labor Code §1102.5(a) (emphasis added). An employer also shall not retaliate against an employee for disclosing such information to a government or law enforcement agency, to a person with authority over the employee, to a person with authority to investigate or correct the noncompliance, or to a public body conducting a hearing, investigation, or inquiry. Labor Code §1102.5(b). The Code also prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee for refusing to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of a state or federal statute, or a violation of or noncompliance with, a local, state, or federal rule or regulation. Labor Code §1102.5(c). The Code makes it illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee

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for having exercised their rights under (a), (b), or (c) above in any former employment.