If you think about it too carefully, almost every job where you get paid requires you to engage in something morally questionable, but you do it because you need the money. If you work at a discount clothing store, the clothes were probably produced in factories in faraway countries by people who endure deplorable working conditions for little pay. Work at a fast-food restaurant? You are selling junk food and making people’s health worse? Are you a security guard at a high-end mall? You are doing nothing more than judging people based on their appearance so that people far wealthier than you can shop without the presence of so-called undesirables reminding them that not everyone is as privileged as they are.
You probably do not dwell on these questions at length, since you are merely a participant in a corrupt system, with few opportunities to earn your daily bread. When you see your employer engaging in criminal or otherwise egregiously harmful activities or those that endanger the public, you can and should speak up. The whistleblower claims lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Huntsville, Alabama, can help you report misconduct in your workplace and protect yourself from employer retaliation and its consequences.
Reporting Misconduct in the Workplace is Legally Protected
It is against the law for your employer to penalize you for participating in a legally protected activity. If your employer takes an adverse action against you because you engaged in a protected activity, this is employer retaliation, and you have the right to file a lawsuit against your employer because of it. Adverse actions include termination of employment, writing negative reviews of your performance, reducing your pay, changing your work schedule against your wishes, denying you a promotion for which you are eligible, or even just creating a hostile work environment through harassment and bullying.
The category of protected activities includes a range of actions that could cost your employer money or damage your employer’s reputation, but which you are nonetheless within your rights to do because they are in the interest of the public.
For example, participating in the political process as a citizen is a protected activity; this includes voting in elections and contributing to the campaigns of candidates for public office. It is also a protected activity if you exercise your legal rights to look out for your health and that of your close family members, such as by filing a workers’ compensation claim if you get injured at work or taking a leave of absence from work pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Likewise, requesting accommodations for a disability is a protected activity.
One category of protected activities involves reporting misconduct that you witness at your workplace; a whistleblower claim is when an employee reports misconduct within the workplace internally to management or externally to regulators.
These are just a few kinds of misconduct that employees might report to regulators or, if applicable to law enforcement:
- Intentionally falsifying financial records
- Healthcare businesses filing false claims with health insurance companies
- Physical or financial abuse of beneficiaries of the employer’s services
- Defrauding customers or misusing their financial information
- Maintaining an unsafe workplace
- Knowingly selling unsafe products that could harm consumers
- Discriminating against employees or prospective customers based on protected characteristics such as race, sex, or disability
- Participating in a civil or criminal investigation into allegations of misconduct in your current or former workplace, even if you are not the one who initiated the investigation
- Violating environmental protection laws and creating a health and safety hazard to the public
Your Employer Retaliates Against You for Reporting Misconduct
If your Huntsville employer retaliates against you for reporting misconduct or cooperating with an ongoing investigation into claims of misconduct, the first thing you should do is contact a local employment lawyer. Employer misconduct, whistleblower claims, and retaliation comes in many forms, and there is not a one size fits all course of action. You should meet with an employment lawyer to discuss the details of your case. These are some issues you might discuss at your first meeting with a whistleblower claims lawyer:
- What was the misconduct in which your employer engaged?
- Who suffered harm, financial or otherwise, as a result of your employer’s misconduct? Was it employees? Customers of your employer? Beneficiaries of its services? The public at large?
- When and how did you become aware of the misconduct?
- Have you told anyone else about the misconduct? Whom did you tell, and how did they respond?
If you have not already reported the misconduct to law enforcement or the relevant regulatory body, it is a good idea to contact a lawyer before you do. Your employer lawyer can represent you in your dealings with the regulatory authorities and help you protect yourself from retaliation by your employer.
If you have already reported your employer’s misconduct, and your employer has retaliated against you by taking an adverse action, the time to contact an employment lawyer is now. We can help you file an employer retaliation lawsuit if appropriate. If the misconduct and the subsequent retaliation involve discrimination, including but not limited to requests for reasonable accommodations for an employee with a disability, then you must contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and go through its preliminary investigation process before it authorizes you to sue your employer. It is never too soon to contact a lawyer after experiencing discrimination or discrimination-related retaliation. In fact, the deadline for contacting the EEOC about a discrimination complaint is 45 days after the most recent act of discrimination, which might be an act of retaliation for complaining about the discrimination inside or outside your workplace.
HKM Employment Attorneys About Whistleblower Claims
The Huntsville employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can give you advice about reporting misconduct in your place of employment and dealing with any ensuing retaliation. Contact the employment lawyers at HKM in Huntsville, Alabama, to set up a consultation.
