Ridgewood Whistleblower Lawyers

Whether you are working for a government or private employer, you may witness conduct that makes you extremely uncomfortable. You may feel as if you are being asked to break a law or do something that could put others in danger. Under federal and New Jersey law, you can come forward as a whistleblower or refuse to engage in such conduct. If your employer takes any actions against you because of what you have done, you can hold them legally accountable in a whistleblower lawsuit. For your own protection, you should contact a whistleblower lawyer as soon as possible. 

What Is the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act?

The “New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA)” is one of the strongest whistleblower protection laws in the United States. The law provides protection to a number of people, including:

• Current employees
• Former employees
• Job applicants (in some cases)

The New Jersey whistleblower law protects people when they engage in the following activities:

• Disclosing, or threatening to disclose, a violation of law, regulation, public policy, or code of ethics.
• Providing information to or testifying in front of a public body that is conducting an investigation.
• Refusing to participate in or objecting to an action that the person believes violates a law, is fraudulent, or presents a public health danger.

The purpose of CEPA is to protect you from any retaliation that an employer may engage in against you. The law allows you to file a lawsuit against your employer. 

What Federal Laws Protect Whistleblowers?

Unlike New Jersey law, there is no one overarching federal statute in place to protect whistleblowers. However, there is whistleblower protection for certain activities under a number of individual statutes. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) protects whistleblowers who divulge corporate misconduct that occurs at publicly reporting companies. 

Federal laws may also protect whistleblowers in the following circumstances:

• Reporting health and safety violations to OSHA.
• Reporting other violations under the Dodd-Frank Act.
• Reporting environmental law violations.
• Federal government employees who come forward to report wrongdoing.

The False Claims Act and Whistleblowers

There may be numerous incentives for you to come forward as a whistleblower. The “False Claims Act (FCA)” is a federal law that allows for whistleblowers to file their own lawsuits on behalf of the federal government. If someone else was involved in either presenting a false claim for payment or avoiding some of what they may owe the government, you may be able to file a lawsuit on behalf of taxpayers. The government may either decide to intervene in the lawsuit or allow you to proceed on your own. If the government is successful in receiving a financial recovery, you would be entitled to a portion of the amount of money that they would be paid.

What Is Whistleblower Retaliation?

“Whistleblower retaliation” encompasses a number of actions that an employer may take against you in the wake of what you have done. Of course, the most obvious type of whistleblower retaliation is when you are terminated from your job. An employer may do a number of other things to either compromise your job or make your life more difficult, such as:

• Constructively terminating you by making the conditions of your employment so intolerable that you feel that you have no choice but to leave your job.
• Denying you a workplace benefit that you otherwise would have received.
• Cutting you out of meetings that you otherwise would have needed to attend.
• Subjecting you to pressure and harassment on the job.
• Manipulating your performance evaluation to make it more negative than you deserve.

You should be on the lookout for any type of retaliation and gather evidence that you may need in case you file a lawsuit. If things simply do not seem right to you, there may be far more to it than you initially think.

Can I File a Lawsuit for Whistleblower Retaliation?

Your remedy is that you can file a lawsuit against your employer, seeking compensation for the damages that you have suffered. Whistleblower laws generally allow for a private right of action to allow you to sue. If you can prove that your employer illegally retaliated against you due to your status as a whistleblower, you may be entitled to financial compensation.

How Can I Prove a Whistleblower Retaliation Lawsuit?

To win a whistleblower retaliation case, you would need to prove the following four elements:

1. You engaged in some sort of activity that is protected under the law.
2. Your employer took some sort of retaliatory action against you.
3. There is a causal connection between the retaliatory action and your whistleblowing activity.
4. Your employer was aware of your whistleblower activity prior to the point where they took the retaliatory action against you.

Your employer may defend their own actions by disrupting the causal connection between the whistleblowing and what they did. They may offer what they believe is a legitimate reason for their actions, such as your performance on the job. You would need to prove that the employer’s actions were pretextual in nature.

What Damages May I Receive in a Whistleblower Lawsuit?

If you are able to prove your case, your employer would need to pay you the full amount of damages that you have suffered due to their actions. Your compensation in a whistleblower retaliation case can be considerable. You may receive the following elements of damages:

• Lost wages for the money that you could have earned had it not been for the retaliatory action.
• Prospective damages for the earnings that you would not have been able to realize in the future due to the damage to your career.
• Emotional distress and other non-economic damages that you sustained due to the stress and angst of being the victim of retaliation.
• Attorney fees.

In addition, if you take your case to trial and win, you may be eligible for punitive damages. A jury may become angered when they learn the scope and extent of your employer’s conduct, and they may seek to send a message by assessing them with a punitive damages verdict. 

When Should I Hire a Whistleblower Lawyer?

Your legal rights are at risk from the very first moment that you engage in conduct that is protected under the law. You should consider hiring an experienced whistleblower lawyer when you first choose to come forward or exercise your own rights. This way, you know to be on the lookout for certain signs of retaliation, and you can take steps to protect yourself. A whistleblower lawyer can help you construct a strategy to fully protect yourself and be ready to take action when it is necessary. 

Contact the Ridgewood Whistleblower Lawyers at Carcich O’Shea if You Have Experienced Retaliation at Your Place of Work

If you have taken action on the job that is protected by law, reach out to the Ridgewood whistleblower lawyers at Carcich O’Shea. We can help protect your legal rights and fight for full compensation if they have been violated. For an initial consultation, contact us online or call today at 201-988-1308. Located in Hackensack, New Jersey, we proudly serve clients in Bergen County, Edison Township, Middlesex County, Essex County, Morris County, and Passaic County.