Florida Employee Whistleblower Attorney

A whistleblower is an employee who reports unlawful, unsafe, or unethical conduct by an employer. Florida has two main whistleblower statutes:

• Public employees (those who work for a government agency) are protected under the Florida Whistle-blower’s Act (Fla. Stat. §§ 112.3187–112.31895).
• Private-sector employees are protected under a separate Florida whistleblower statute that applies to private employers with ten or more employees (Fla. Stat. §§ 448.101–448.105).

It is also important to know that many state and federal laws protect employees who report specific types of violations. For example, laws that prohibit discrimination, workplace safety violations (OSHA), securities fraud (SEC and Sarbanes–Oxley), or government contract fraud (False Claims Act) each include their own whistleblower protections. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Whistleblower Protection Program alone enforces more than 20 federal whistleblower-protection statutes covering workplace safety, environmental laws, consumer protection, and more!

If you report or refuse to participate in illegal or unsafe conduct, the law is likely to protect you from retaliation.

Employees of private companies with 10 or more employees are protected from retaliation if they:

• Object to any activity, policy, or practice of the employer which is a violation of a law, rule, or regulation.
• Refuse to participate in any activity, policy, or practice of the employer which is a violation of a law, rule, or regulation.

• Provide information or testimony during a governmental investigation, hearing, or inquiry regarding an employer’s alleged violation of a law, rule, or regulation.

• Disclose or threaten to disclose an employer’s violation of a law, rule, or regulation to a government agency. However, before going to the government, the employee needs to report the illegal practice to the employer and give the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct the activity, policy, or practice.

Contractors of private employers are not protected under Florida’s Private Whistleblower Act; only employees are protected. It is important to note that workers can be misclassified as independent contractors, so if you are a contractor working for a private employer, you could be protected if your classification is incorrect. 

The Florida Public Whistle-blower Act applies to state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and other public entities, including companies that contract with public entities. 

Employees, applicants and contractors are protected from whistleblower retaliation if they report:

• A violation of a federal, state, or local law, rule, or regulation committed by an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor which creates a danger to the public’s health, safety or welfare.
• An act of gross mismanagement, malfeasance, misfeasance, gross waste of public funds, suspected or actual Medicaid fraud or abuse, or gross neglect of duty committed by an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor.

Reports concerning a local governmental entity, including any regional, county, or municipal entity, special district, community college district, or school district need to be made in writing to the chief executive officer or other appropriate local official with authority to investigate complaints and make reports or recommend corrective action.  

All other reports, including those concerning state agencies, must be made in writing to an agency or federal government entity having the authority to investigate, police, manage, or otherwise remedy the violation or act, typically the Florida Commission on Human Relations, but also could be the Office of the Chief Inspector General or the whistle-blower hotline.

Private employees can file a civil lawsuit in state court within two years of the adverse action.

The Public Whistle-blower Act sets out different procedures for state and local government employees. 

Complaints against a state agency or contractor must first be filed with the Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR) or the Office of the Chief Inspector General in the Executive Office of the Governor within 60 days of the retaliatory adverse action. Whether the complainant can file a lawsuit or must pursue administrative procedures will depend on the outcome of the FCHR’s investigation.

Complaints against local government entities are handled differently and do not go through the FCHR process. 

If the local government has either established whistle-blower claim procedures by ordinance or contracted with the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) to handle their whistle-blower claims, the complaint must be filed with the local government entity within 60 days of the retaliatory adverse action, or sooner if required by an applicable collective bargaining agreement. 

If the local government has a contract with DOAH, the employee must use the DOAH administrative hearing process. 

All other persons may bring a civil action within 180 days of the retaliatory adverse action, after exhausting all available contractual or administrative remedies.