West Virginia Code 6C-1-3 – Discriminatory and retaliatory actions against whistle-blowers prohibited; promotion, increased compensation protected
(a) No employer may discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against an employee by changing the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, location, or privileges of employment because the employee, acting on his or her own volition, or a person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the employee, makes a good faith report, or is about to report, verbally or in writing, to the employer or appropriate authority, an instance of wrongdoing or waste.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 6C-1-3
- Appropriate authority: means a federal, state, county or municipal government body, agency or organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement, regulatory violations, professional conduct or ethics, or waste. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
- Employee: means a person who performs a full or part-time service for wages, salary, or other remuneration under a contract of hire, written or oral, express or implied, for a public body. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
- Employer: means a person supervising one or more employees, including the employee in question, a superior of that supervisor, or an agent of a public body. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
- Good faith report: means a report of conduct defined in this article as wrongdoing or waste which is made without malice or consideration of personal benefit and which the person making the report has reasonable cause to believe is true. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Waste: means an employer or employee'. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
- Whistle-blower: means a person who witnesses or has evidence of wrongdoing or waste while employed with a public body and who makes a good faith report of, or testifies to, the wrongdoing or waste, verbally or in writing, to one of the employee'. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
- Wrongdoing: means a violation which is not of a merely technical or minimal nature of a federal or state statute or regulation, of a political subdivision ordinance or regulation or of a code of conduct or ethics designed to protect the interest of the public or the employer. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
(b) No employer may discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against an employee by changing the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, location, or privileges of employment because the employee is requested or subpoenaed by an appropriate authority to participate in an investigation, hearing, or inquiry held by an appropriate authority or in a court action.
(c) No employer may deny a whistle-blower covered by the civil service system, because of his or her status or actions as a whistle-blower, a promotion or other increase in compensation that the whistle-blower otherwise would have received.