Background: The Whistleblower Act was established to encourage state employees to disclose improper governmental action and to provide protection to employees who report improper action. Whistleblower protection applies to a person who reports alleged improper governmental action in a good faith report to the State Auditor, or a public official, including the Attorney General, the director of the employee's agency, an individual designated to receive whistleblower complaints at the agency where the employee works, or the Executive Ethics Board. Any whistleblower who has been subject to retaliation has a cause of action for remedies provided under the law against discrimination, including injunctive relief, actual damages, and reasonable attorney fees. A whistleblower is defined as an employee who in good faith reports or who is perceived by the employer as reporting alleged improper governmental action to the auditor or other public official, initiating an investigation by the auditor. Whistleblower also means an employee who:

in good faith provides information to the auditor or other public official, in connection with a whistleblower investigation;
is believed to have reported asserted improper governmental action to the auditor or other public official or to have provided information to the auditor or other public official in connection with a whistleblower investigation but who, in fact, has not reported such action or provided such information; or
in good faith identifies rules warranting review or provides information to the rules review committee, and an employee who is believed to have identified rules warranting review or provided information to the rules review committee but who, in fact, has not done so.

Improper governmental action includes any action by an employee undertaken in the performance of the employee's official duties which:

is a gross waste of public funds or resources as defined in this section;

is in violation of federal or state law or rule, if the violation is not merely technical or of a minimum nature;
is of substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety;
is gross mismanagement; or
prevents the dissemination of scientific opinion or alters technical findings without scientifically valid justification, unless state law or a common law privilege prohibit disclosure.

Improper governmental action does not include personnel actions, for which other remedies exist, such as employee grievances, complaints, reassignments, reductions in pay, dismissals, violations of the state civil service law, alleged labor agreement violations, or claims of discriminatory treatment.