(a) A supervisor shall not discharge, demote, transfer, or otherwise discriminate against a public employee regarding the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on either the employee’s reporting a violation or what he or she believes in good faith to be a violation of this chapter, or the employee’s giving truthful statements or truthful testimony concerning an alleged ethics violation, regardless of whether the employee filed the complaint.

Attorney's Note

Under the Alabama Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Violationup to 30 daysup to $200
For details, see Ala. Code § 13A-5-7
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Terms Used In Alabama Code 36-25-24

  • circuit: means judicial circuit. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed in any manner to prevent or prohibit or otherwise limit a supervisor from disciplining, discharging, transferring, or otherwise affecting the terms and conditions of a public employee’s employment so long as the disciplinary action does not result from or is in no other manner connected with the public employee’s filing a complaint with the commission, giving truthful statements, or truthfully testifying in an ethics investigation.
(c) No public employee shall file a complaint or otherwise initiate action against a public official or other public employee without a good faith basis for believing the complaint to be true and accurate.
(d) A supervisor who is alleged to have violated this section shall be subject to civil action in the circuit courts of this state pursuant to the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure as promulgated by the Alabama Supreme Court.
(e) A public employee who without a good faith belief in the truthfulness and accuracy of a complaint filed against a supervisor, shall be subject to a civil action in the circuit courts in the State of Alabama pursuant to the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure as promulgated by the Supreme Court. Additionally, a public employee who without a good faith belief in the truthfulness and accuracy of a complaint as filed against a supervisor shall be subject to appropriate and applicable personnel action.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow a public employee to file a complaint to prevent, mitigate, lessen, or otherwise to extinguish existing or anticipated personnel action by a supervisor. A public employee who willfully files such a complaint against a supervisor shall, upon conviction, be guilty of the crime of false reporting.
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