Nathan A. "Nate" Adams IV is a Partner in our
Tallahassee office .
Lex Est Sanctio Sancta
Timely Topics
Under state and federal law, "whistleblowers" are a
protected class and a broader category of persons than intuitively
you might guess. When we imagine the quintessential whistleblower,
the individual is usually someone who investigates and formally
reports to authorities or testifies to unlawful conduct, leading to
high-profile arrests or indictments, and then is fired for
"doing the right thing." But in many states,
whistleblowers are also persons who informally report to a
co-worker lawful conduct, policies or practices that they
mistakenly consider unlawful. Whistleblowers may even misreport
conduct that never occurred and would not have been unlawful if it
did. This is the difference between an objective and subjective
test for a violation of law and between a requirement for due
diligence or something less for whistleblower status. Under federal
law,
