Many of us have been hearing about whistle blowers these days and it has a number of meanings. Sometimes people think that when they make a complaint at work that they are a whistle blower and have some sort of protection. There are a couple of whistle blower statutes, one is found in labor law, and that statute applies to people who are not public employees. Another statute is contained in the New York state civil service law which refers to people who are public employees, but the issue in whistle blowing is whether the complaint that the person has made is containing a potential threat to public health and safety or an actual violation of law which relates to public health and safety. Not every complaint that one makes to an employer or even a higher level government agency is going to have whistle blower protection status and that again becomes a fact intensive inquiry.
This informational blog post was provided by Jane Gould, an experienced New York Employee Lawyer.
