B.  Public Employees

     [§378-70]  Protected disclosure by a public employee.  (a)  In addition to any other protections under this part, a public employer shall not discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate against a public employee regarding the public employee's compensation, terms, conditions, location, or privileges of employment because the public employee, or a person acting on behalf of the public employee, reports or is about to report to the public employer or a public body, verbally or in writing:

     (1)  Any violation or suspected violation of a federal, state, or county law, rule, ordinance, or regulation; or

     (2)  Any violation or suspected violation of a contract executed by the State, a political subdivision of the State, or the United States,

unless the employee knows that the report is false.

     (b)  Every public employer shall post notices pertaining to the application of sections 378-70 and 396-8(e), as shall be prescribed by the department of labor and industrial relations, in conspicuous places in every workplace. [L 2011, c 166, §4]

Case Notes

  Although plaintiff, a vocational rehabilitation specialist with the department of human services, argued that the state legislature specifically intended to consent to federal jurisdiction in whistleblower cases involving public employees when it enacted this section, the court found that nothing in its plain language, or elsewhere in the state Whistleblowers' Protection Act, demonstrated the State's express consent to federal suit.  Rather, this section expanded whistleblower protections to public employees by providing greater avenues to state court.  349 F. Supp. 3d 1019 (2018).