Posts Tagged: Whistleblower

A look at the new whistleblower protections

Assemblymember Melissa Melendez at a Capitol Park rally supporting her whistleblower protection bill. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

by JESSICA HICE posted 02.13.2018

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law whistle blower protections Capitol staffers. Now, legislative employees in California will have the same protections as all other state employees. But a question arises: Will the new law, which passed both Democrat-controlled houses without a dissenting vote, really make much of a difference?

Whistleblower targets OSHA office in San Francisco

A safety inspector on the job. (Photo: BillionPhotos, via Shuttterstock)

by STUART SILVERSTEIN posted 04.11.2016

FairWarning: The whistleblower claim filed last week with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel charges that the San Francisco regional office of OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program routinely dumped legitimate complaints. He contends his disclosures to senior OSHA and Labor Department officials -– all the way up to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez — “did not spark good faith corrective action.”

Recent reports from the Franchise Tax Board estimate that California faces a roughly $6.5 billion “tax gap” from unpaid taxes. Remarkably, the state has overlooked an easy solution that is already on its books to help close the tax gap: a reward program to encourage whistleblowers to report tax fraud and tax evasion.