Whistleblower statute protects employees who disclose information that was already known

In People ex re. Garcia-Brower v. Kolla’s Inc., the Supreme Court today holds that Labor Code section 1102.5, subdivision (b), which protects employees who disclose suspected violations of the law to their employers, applies even when an employee discloses information to an employer or agency that already knew about the violation.

The Court of Appeal in this case held that a private employee’s report of unlawful activity directly to his or her wrongdoing employer is not a protected “disclosure” within the meaning of section 1102.5(b), because the term “disclose” requires the revelation of new information.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Liu, disagreed with the Court of Appeal’s interpretation of the statute. The Supreme Court noted that other aspects of California law use the term “disclosure” without regard to whether the information is already known to the recipients of the disclosure. The Supreme Court also reasoned that the legislative history of section 1102.5(b) and the underlying public policies both support a rule that encourages employees to report potential violations even if those violations are already known to the employer, because the disclosures may make the employer more likely to ameliorate the violations.

Horvitz & Levy was appointed by the Supreme Court to defend the Court of Appeal’s ruling because the employer did not participate in the proceedings.