Whistle Blowers and Massachusetts Law

When an employee decides it’s time to blow the whistle on employer misconduct or that of a fellow worker, employees are well advised to do a bit of homework first. While it certainly seems like whistle blowers should be protected by the law – and, generally speaking, they are – those protections do not come without rules. Simply put, employees cannot suffer retaliation for reporting certain improprieties at their places of employment but must comply with legal procedures and definitions.

State employees enjoy the protection of a whistle blower statute (Ch. 149, §185 of the General Laws). It prevents employers from firing, suspending, demoting or otherwise punishing them for reporting what employees reasonably believe to be violations of laws, regulations, or other matters an employee “reasonably believes poses a risk to public health, safety or the environment.” Except in limited circumstances, however, employees must first report any such violation to their supervisor’s attention in writing. As one worker recently found out, the internal report requirement is strictly construed – her case claiming she was forced to resign after reporting records falsification was dismissed because she did not report the problem in writing before she sued.

For others, Massachusetts interpretative law has carved out an exception to the at-will rule that protects employees who report crimes, either internally or to outside authorities. Again, employees who feel compelled to blow the whistle on such conduct should take care to ensure they are in fact reporting a violation of law before they do so. In general, Massachusetts employers can terminate their workers for any reason or no reason – a complaint about a company policy or rule, e.g., differs materially from a complaint about a crime. The whistle blower exception for privately employed individuals should be examined carefully before action that might imperil future employment is undertaken.