California whistleblower protection laws prohibit your boss from retaliating against you for reporting workplace violations. Even if you turn out to be wrong, you are protected from retaliation as long as you reasonably believed your reports.
For example, your boss cannot punish you for:
- telling the police about criminal activity;
- reporting workplace safety violations to Cal/OSHA;
- filing a complaint about wage/hour law violations with the Labor Commissioner; or
- reporting economic waste to the California State Auditor (if you are a public employee).
The most extreme form of whistleblower retaliation is getting fired or laid off, called wrongful termination. Equally as unlawful is wrongful constructive termination, which is where your employer makes working conditions so intolerable that you have no choice but to resign.
Other forms of whistleblower retaliation include:
- Demoting you;
- Writing you up unfairly;
- Failing to promote you to a higher position;
- Harassing you;
- Threatening to turn you in to ICE;
- Denying you access to training, professional development opportunities, or resources necessary for you to do your job.
If you are a victim of whistleblower retaliation in California, consult an attorney about your options. We may be able to file a complaint with the relevant state agency or sue your employer for back pay, reinstatement, and other remedies.
Below, our California labor and employment lawyers discuss the various state and federal whistleblower protection laws that protect you from workplace retaliation.
- 1. LC 1102.5 – General Protection
- 2. LC 98.6 – Wage/Hour
- 3. LC 6310 – Cal/OSHA
- 4. GC 8547 – Public Employees
- 5. HS 1278.5 – Health Care
- 6. FEHA – Discrimination & Harassment
- 7. Qui Tam – Fraud
- 8. Federal Whistleblower Laws
- 9. Damages
- 10. Additional Resources
1. LC 1102.5 – General Protection
California Labor Code 1102.5 LC prohibits your employer from retaliating against you for reporting or testifying about workplace non-compliance with a law or regulation. You are still protected even if the suspected violation was already known.
In addition, LC 1102.5 prevents your boss from retaliating against you for any whistleblowing activites that:
- you engaged in while working at a previous employer, or
- your family engaged in.1
Can I sue?
The statute of limitations to sue under LC 1102.5 is three years from the retaliation. Though before you can sue, you must notify both the California Labor and Workplace Development Agency (or other relevant agency) through an online form and your employer via certified mail.
Then the Labor and Workplace Development Agency may decide to investigate your complaint itself. If it chooses not to do so, it must notify you within 65 days, at which point you may file your own lawsuit.
Should your LC 1102.5 case go to trial, you have the initial burden to show by a preponderance of the evidence that your whistleblowing was a contributing factor in your employer’s alleged retaliation against you.
At that point, your employer has to show by clear and convincing evidence that they would have taken adverse actions against you even if there was no whistleblowing. If they fail to meet this burden of proof, they can be held liable for retaliation.2
2. LC 98.6 – Wage/Hour
California Labor Code 98.6 LC protects you from reporting wage and hour violations to the California Labor Commissioner. The law also forbids whistleblower retaliation against:
- job applicants who filed complaints with the Labor Commissioner about their previous employers, and
- family members of people who filed complaints about labor violations.3
(If your whistleblowing concerns sex-based wage discrimination, the law that protects you from retaliation is Labor Code 1197.5.)
Can I sue?
The statute of limitations to sue your employer for an LC 98.6 violation is three years after the retaliation. Though if you hope to avoid the time and effort of a trial, you have the option to first file a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner, which has only a six-month statute of limitations.
There is a rebuttable presumption that you were retaliated against if you get disciplined/discharged within 90 days of your whistleblowing. If the employer then articulates a legitimate reason for their actions, you have to show that the adverse action was still retaliatory.4
California employers may not retaliate against whistleblowing employees.
3. LC 6310 – Cal/OSHA
California Labor Code 6310 LC prohibits retaliation against you for reporting violations of occupational health and safety rules to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).
LC 6310 also prohibits employer discrimination or retaliation against your family members for reporting worker health and safety violations.5
Can I sue?
The deadline to sue your boss for a LC 6310 violation is three years after the retaliation. If you wish to avoid trial, you can first file a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner, which has a six-month statute of limitations.
The law presumes you were retaliated against if your discipline/discharge occurred within 90 days of your whistleblowing. However, your employer can rebut this presumption if they articulate a legitimate reason for their actions.6
4. GC 8547 – Public Employees
The California Whistleblower Protection Act under Government Code 8547 GC protects state employees who report any of the following:
- Violations of law, regulations, executive orders or court orders (including corruption, bribery or fraud);
- Any condition that may significantly threaten the health or safety of employees or the public; or
- Governmental activity that is economically wasteful or involves gross misconduct, incompetency or inefficiency.
Before you can sue your employer for GC 8547 violations, you must file a complaint with the California State Personnel Board.24 This complaint must be filed within 12 months of the retaliation.7
5. HS 1278.5 – Health Care
California Health & Safety Code 1278.5 HS prohibits health care facility administrators and staff from retaliating against
- patients,
- nurses,
- members of the medical staff, and
- other health care workers
who notify government entities of suspected unsafe patient care and conditions.
If you are a health care worker reporting on patient safety issues, you might not need to exhaust all internal grievance processes before filing a lawsuit. This is because the internal hospital appeal processes could potentially delay or hinder your retaliation claims.8
Employees who have been retaliated against for whistleblowing can file a lawsuit.
6. FEHA – Discrimination and Harassment
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits employers from retaliating against you for reporting workplace discrimination or harassment.
If you have been retaliated against, report the retaliation to your supervisor or HR department if you feel safe doing so. If that does not resolve the matter, you can then file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) within three years of the retaliatory act.
The CRD will conduct its own investigation and may try to resolve the matter through mediation. Otherwise, you will receive a “right to sue” notice allowing you to file a traditional lawsuit against the employer.9
7. Qui Tam – Fraud
The “qui tam” section of the California False Claims Act allows you to sue your employer on behalf of the state government – and recover treble damages – if your employer committed:
- fraud (such as fraudulent billing) or
- embezzlement with respect to government funds.
Then if your employer retaliates against you for bringing a qui tam suit, you have the right to sue for qui tam whistleblower retaliation.
Note that these cases must be initially filed under seal so that the government can investigate. Then if they decline to intervene, you can bring the case by yourself.10
8. Federal Whistleblower Laws
The whistleblower protections of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 were designed to protect investors from fraudulent accounting by public companies. If you are the employee of a publicly-traded company, you can sue if your employer retaliates against you for reporting suspected securities fraud to the federal government or a supervisor.11
Meanwhile, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act implemented protections for whistleblowers who revealed inappropriate actions taken by public corporations. You can demand a jury trial if you believe you were terminated in retaliation to your whistleblowing.12
9. Damages
Depending on the facts of your whistleblowing case, you may be able to win the following remedies in California:
- Job reinstatement,
- Back pay plus interest and benefits,
- Civil penalties of up to $10,000,
- Pain and suffering,
- Attorney’s fees and court costs, and/or
- Punitive damages.13
If you are a public employee, the judge can also restore your lost service credits and expunge your adverse employment records.14
State public employees are protected under the California Whistleblower Protection Act.
Additional Resources
For more information, refer to the following:
- What is a whistleblower? – Overview by the National Whistleblower Center.
- Whistleblower Protection Program – Government program offering protections for employees who were retaliated against for protected activities under more than 20 federal laws.
- Whistleblower Survival Tips – Advice from an independent, nonpartisan support office which advises the House of Representatives.
- California’s Hazardous Substances Information and Training Act – Under LC § 6399.7, you cannot be retaliated against for reporting hazardous substances in the workplace.
- Workers’ Compensation anti-retaliation law – Under LC § 132a, you cannot be retaliated against for filing a workers’ comp claim or for testifying in a workers’ comp hearing for a co-worker.
Legal References:
- Labor Code 1102.5. People ex rel. Garcia-Brower v. Kolla’s, Inc. S269456. Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc. (Cal. 2022) 503 P.3d 659, 12 Cal. 5th 703; Briley v. City of West Covina (Cal. App. 2021) 66 Cal. App. 119.
- Labor Code 1102.5. Labor Code 1102.6. Labor Code 2699.3. Minor v. Fedex Office & Print Services, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2016) 182 F.Supp.3d 966, 988. (“California’s statute of limitations for “[a]n action upon a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture” is three years. See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 338(a). Therefore, actions commenced under § 1102.5 must be brought within three years.”). See also California Jury Instructions CACI 2509, CACI 4603, and CACI 4604. Also see Veverka v. Dept. of Veteran Affairs (Cal.App. 2024) .
- Labor Code 98.6. See, for example, Rope v. Auto-Chlor System of Washington, Inc. (Cal. App. 2d Dist. Oct. 16, 2013) 220 Cal. App. 4th 635.
- Labor Code 98.7. SB 497 (2023). Labor Code 2699.3.
- Labor Code 6310. Government Code 8547.8.
- See note 4.
- Labor Code 6310. Government Code 8547.8. Labor Code 98.7.
- Health & Safety Code 1278.5. Fahlen v. Sutter Central Valley Hospitals (2012) 208 Cal. App. 4th 557 (A physician could pursue a whistleblower retaliation claim without first exhausting judicial remedies by seeking a writ of mandamus to overturn a hospital’s peer review decision. The court ruled that the hospital’s anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the retaliation claim was improperly granted, as the plaintiff’s allegations of retaliatory peer review actions for reporting nursing misconduct were not subject to dismissal under the anti-SLAPP statute.)
- Government Code sections 12900–12976.
- Government Codes 12650, 12651, 12652, 12653.
- Government Code 12940(h) GC — Whistleblower protection for reporting FEHA violations. 18 United States Code (“U.S.C.”) 1514A — Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protections. See also Wiest v. Lynch (3d Cir. 2013) 710 F.3d 121; Leshinsky v. Telvent GIT, S.A. (S.D.N.Y.2013) 942 F.Supp.2d 432; Sylvester v. Parexel (DOL May 25, 2011) ARB Case No. 07-123; Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 25, 2017) 14 Civ. 927; Nielsen v. AECOM Tech. Corp. (2d Cir. 2014) 762 F.3d 214; Guyden v. Aetna, Inc. (2d Cir. 2008) 544 F.3d 37.
- 124 Stat. 1376 – 2223.
- Labor Code 1105. Labor Code 1102.5. SB 497 (2023). Labor Code 98.7.
- Government Code 19683.