Five Tips for Navigating a Whistleblower Retaliation Claim
November 16, 2022 | Salo Law LLC
Do you feel retaliated against for blowing the whistle? Are you planning on pursuing an Oregon whistleblower employment claim and have questions?
The act of whistleblowing helps push a culture toward accountability, integrity, and transparency. Many employees are afraid to blow the whistle on their employer’s legal violations for fear of retaliation. If you have blown the whistle and are now receiving negative treatment in response, here are five tips for what you can do:
1. Educate Yourself
Federal and Oregon whistleblower laws protect employees that find the courage to blow the whistle. These laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for internally reporting illegal acts to management or externally to a government authority, such as to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Educating yourself on your legal rights can serve to enrich you with an understanding of what employers are not allowed to do.
Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) maintains educational information for whistleblowing employees to review here. OSHA also maintains educational information available for the public here. Furthermore, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) maintains a comprehensive FAQ section for workers that have or are planning on whistleblowing about discriminatory practices to the EEOC.
2. Consult an Attorney Early
Like all employment claims, whistleblower claims have a strict statute of limitations creating a hard deadline that employees must follow for filing claims with either BOLI or the appropriate court. Consulting an employment lawyer early can help ensure a whistleblower understands this deadline and timely files their claim. Failure to timely file a whistleblower claim by the statute of limitations results in the worker being forever barred from pursuing claims in court. In addition, if an employment attorney is consulted soon enough, the attorney can help the worker navigate how the employer responds to the whistleblowing.
3. Consider Contacting BOLI
Oregon’s administrative agency, BOLI, protects employment rights, including whistleblowers who have been retaliated against for reporting the employer’s legal violations. BOLI assigns an investigator to look into whistleblower retaliation complaints. The investigator requires an employer to respond with a written response to the complaint and the investigator also has the ability to speak with other employees and gather documents from the employer to corroborate the retaliation.
4. Taking Good Notes
Evidence is critical to proving every whistleblower claim. Vague and speculative evidence alone can prove difficult to avoid dismissal in court. One way whistleblowers can increase their chances of success is to take good, detailed notes of whistleblowing events as close in time to the actual events as possible. This includes continuing to take notes of any negative treatment the worker faces in response to blowing the whistle.
5. Preserve Key Documents
Retaliating employers often attempt to cover up retaliatory motives. For example, an employer may terminate an otherwise well-performing employee for violating a made-up policy. Acting preventatively and saving key documents, such as text messages, can help you move forward with your case if your employer decides to violate the law and terminate you for a pretextual reason.
However, collecting documents can be a tricky situation to navigate and does not come without risk, especially if a worker takes or copies documents without authorization. If a whistleblower has any questions about what documents they can make copies of, they should consult with an employment attorney as soon as possible for guidance.
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It can be incredibly difficult to figure out what to do when you are being treated negatively for whistleblowing. Alina M. Salo has experience handling such cases. Call (503) 208-6716 today.