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Workplace retaliation may occur at university in New York

On Behalf of | May 18, 2017 | Uncategorized

Two university employees in another state recently claimed they were retaliated against after speaking up against alleged financial waste that was occurring at the university. They have filed a lawsuit against the educational institution. Employees in New York who face retaliation in the workplace for whistleblowing have the right to seek justice through the civil court system.

According to the lawsuit, the two employees exposed multiple bad practices at the school that ended up wasting money from taxpayers. The workers’ attorney claimed that these two workers likely saved the institution a large amount of money, and they also made some proposals to save it even more. However, the university allegedly did not see it that way. The attorney claimed that, instead, the school viewed them as threats.

The lawsuit was initially filed back in June of 2016. In February of this year, however, the state’s attorney general office requested that the employees’ case be dismissed. According to the office, the employees failed to meet the state whistleblower statute’s timeliness requirement. However, the attorney is in the process of preparing a response to the attorney general’s office.

According to the First Amendment, a government employer cannot retaliate against employees who express opinions regarding matters that are of public concern. Workers who end up being whistleblowers might have protection from retaliation for taking part in this type of speech. An attorney in New York may help alleged victims of retaliation to explore all of the options that are available to them under the law for their specific circumstances.

Source: deseretnews.com, “Lawsuit claims retaliation against U. employees who exposed wasteful spending“, Ben Lockhart, May 5, 2017